Lindy Ruff is a sneaky great hire for New Jersey Devils

Lindy Ruff came up only recently in their coaching search, but the New Jersey Devils have made a sneaky great hire.

Falling short of expectations for the New Jersey Devils led to a midseason coaching change. Without a spot in the NHL’s return to play, a full-on coaching search took place and now they’ve landed their man. According to multiple reports, the Devils are set to hire Lindy Ruff as their next head coach.

Ruff surfaced late in the Devils’ coaching search, as his name was added to a list of prominent names just last week. Indications he was a serious candidate have led to a hire. Interim general manager Tom Fitzgerald ran the coaching search, and in concert with Ruff’s hiring Kevin Weekes of NHL Network reported Fitzgerald will have the interim tag removed.

Ruff had been an assistant coach for the New York Rangers since being fired by the Dallas Stars in 2017. He more notably had a long run as head coach of Buffalo Sabres (1997-2013), and his 736 regular season wins are sixth all-time. He was won three division titles, with one Stanley Cup Final appearance (1999 with the Sabres).

After John Hynes was fired, the Devils were a respectable 19-16-8 under interim head coach Alain Nasreddine before the NHL season was shut down. Nasreddine never seemed like a legit candidate for the permanent post though, especially with Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant and John Steven known to have been interviewed along with Ruff. Bruce Boudreau and Mike Babcock were easy to place as potential candidates in New Jersey, but it’s not known if either interviewed.

Ruff’s resume pointed to him being a head coach again at some point if he wanted to be. Time will tell if New Jersey is the right fit, but the glow of the hire says the Devils have made a sneaky great choice for their next coach.