The New Jersey Devils made significant changes to their coaching staff, parting ways with assistants Alain Nasreddine and Mark Recchi. In the release, the team indicates that it is a mutual agreement with Nasreddine to not return as his contract was expiring, while Recchi has been relieved of his duties.
Nasreddine, many will remember, also served as interim head coach of the Devils in 2019-20, going 19-16-8 as the bench boss. The 46-year-old coach had been with the team since 2015, when he came over from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins along with John Hynes. Interestingly enough, despite being close to the bottom of the league in goals against, the Devils’ penalty-killing – designed and coached by Nasreddine – was actually in the top half of the league.
He’ll now have to look elsewhere, though it seems unlikely that another head coaching opportunity would present itself at the NHL level. More likely is Nasreddine will either join another bench as an assistant or perhaps go back to the AHL, where he could potentially get a chance to build a staff as the head coach. Just 46, he could easily find himself back on the path to the top soon.
Recchi meanwhile is an interesting case. A legendary player, his coaching career has been very inconsistent. The power play that he was responsible for was among the worst in the league, clicking at just a 15.63 percent rate this season, better than just the Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes. His time with the Pittsburgh Penguins previously also had some question marks, and it’s unclear where he’ll head next.
The announcement suggests that head coach Lindy Ruff will be retained, something that wasn’t entirely clear when the season ended. If that proves true, he’ll be able to hand pick a new staff to try and take the Devils to the next level and compete for the playoffs next year.
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