NHL News: New Jersey Devils Fire Head Coach Lindy Ruff
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The New Jersey Devils have fired head coach Lindy Ruff and the Devils have named Travis Green as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

The Devils continued to struggle under Ruff’s leadership despite the team rewarding him with a multi-year extension at the beginning of the season. A change was necessary for this team to take the next step in its development. You could see a change was needed after their California road trip, where they picked up a total of two points.

Even though players and management liked head coach, Lindy Ruff, Devils President and general manager Tom Fitzgerald knew a change was needed.

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President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald Statement: “I hold our entire organization to the highest levels of accountability to focus on being a competitive team that expects to be a perennial playoff contender. Unfortunately, we are not currently at that level, and I needed to make this decision.”

As we have seen with the coaching changes this season in the NHL, this wasn’t easy. But a necessary one for the Devils. New Jersey could not let Lindy Ruff walk into Prudential Center on Tuesday night to coach against the Florida Panthers. That environment would have been too hostile.

“This was an extremely difficult conversation to have with Lindy based on the relationship that he and I have, Fitzgerald continued in a statement. “He was the right coach to develop our young players on the ice, and above all else, he is a tremendous person.”

Under head coach Lindy Ruff, the Devils made the playoffs during the 2022-23 season, setting franchise records in points and wins. New Jersey made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.

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Lindy Ruff was the coach for the Devils for three plus seasons with a record of 128-125-28 a .505 winning percentage in 281 career regular-season games. He had a record of 5-7 in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs and was named a Jack Adams Award Finalist last year.

However, mismanagement of personnel, line combinations, poor starts, lack of intensity, and other factors led to his firing. He took responsibility for the Devils poor season.

Coaches are hired to be fired, and you can’t fire the players, so Tom Fitzgerald had to fire the coach. Lindy Ruff knows the business he chose.

Travis Green will take over starting with Tuesday mornings skate. Green coached the Vancouver Canucks for parts of five seasons beginning with the 2017-18. He had a record of 133-147-33 and guided the Canucks to the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

There is speculation that the Devils and Flames can rekindle that trade discussion with Travis Green coaching Jacob Markstrom.