Devils’ Addition of Brad Shaw as Assistant Coach Will Pay Off

Shaw’s Coaching Philosophy 

Flyers fans on social media were clamoring for Shaw to become the permanent head coach, but Keefe and the Devils pounced on the opportunity. He’s known to excel with the blue line especially, as most of the NHL teams he worked with improved significantly on defense after he joined. This includes joining a Blue Jackets team that was 29th in league defense and propelling them to second (!!) in just one single season.

He’s also known to be very aggressive (smartly) on the penalty kill, consistently turning in exceptional results when down a man. While the Flyers were too depleted for an assistant coach to fix, nine of the 11 previous NHL coaching seasons for Shaw saw his teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

He’s developed a reputation as a guy who’s super friendly and well respected, yet is a huge stickler for fundamentals. He’s not afraid to press the same point over and over again until it clicks. He certainly has the resume to earn that right; in addition to all the coaching, he also played 377 games in the NHL during the late 20th century. 

The Devils were already a top-five team in ‘goals against’ last season (2.68 per game) and have their core defensive pieces locked up. For those concerned that offense was more of an issue than defense, the scoring output (or lack thereof) from the Devils was something Keefe had never really dealt with in his NHL career. That points more to a lack of roster depth than coaching, which general manager Tom Fitzgerald is more than aware of, saying, “We won’t be coming back with the same group, I can tell you that, because it wasn’t good enough.”

Above all, Shaw is authentic. When he was with the Canucks, he famously took some time out to discuss the team’s slow start and philosophy with fans at a practice. He emphasizes that any criticism is from a place of genuine care, using those teachable moments to strengthen bonds, thus improving a player’s on-ice results and morale. He worked with many young defensemen who turned into major successes, including Zach Werenski, Seth Jones, Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko. That could especially bode well for a guy like Simon Nemec or Seamus Casey.

Cool Side Note

Shaw’s wife, Mary, is the author of the award-winning children’s book series “Brady Brady”, an inspirational and fun sports fiction series. The books are often read across schools in North America.

Looking Ahead

It’s huge for Keefe that he’s able to bring in someone that he respects so much to be one of his assistants. Any struggles for the Devils were no fault of Keefe’s own; he simply wasn’t handed a deep enough roster, and then some terrible injury luck compounded the issue. The 2025-26 season will be a great opportunity to show what Keefe can do with the correct pieces in place.