5 candidates who can replace John Hynes as New Jersey Devils’ head coach
By Mary Clarke
3. In-house options
The Devils, all things considered, may not even look outside their own organization for a head coach. Interim head coaches do get hired to stay on as full time head coaches — just ask Craig Berube of the Blues — and New Jersey may like what they see out of Alain Nasreddine. The Devils’ current interim coach does not have any head coaching experience in the NHL, but he may impress New Jersey’s front office enough to keep him around.
Outside of Nasreddine, the Devils have current head coach of their AHL team — the Binghamton Devils — in Mark Dennehy possibly waiting in the wings. The Devils will likely do their due diligence in interviewing as many possible candidates as they can for this position and Dennehy with Binghamton may be one.
Dennehy also has no head coaching experience in the NHL, but could be a potential candidate for the Devils should they decide to look in-house.
Rounding out the Devils’ options is assistant coach Rick Kowalsky, the previous coach of the Binghamton AHL team. Kowalsky was hired to be a part of Hynes’ staff in 2018 after winning the AHL Coach of the Year Award with Binghamton in the 2015-16 season and is familiar with the Devils’ front office system.
The Devils may want to search outside of their system for a potential full time head coach, but they do have a few potential options inside their franchise should they want to go that route.