Tentative Dates for Return to Play
TSN: July 24: Travel to hubs
July 25: Exhibition games
July 30: Qualification round begins
Aug. 9: First round of playoffs begins
Aug. 23: Second round begins
Sept. 6: Conference Finals begin
Sept. 20: SCF begins
Oct. 2: Last poss. game of SCF
Chris Johnston: Compressed playoff rounds.
Qualifying Rounds: 10 days
Round 1: Fewer than 14 days
Round 2: Fewer than 14 days
Round 3: Fewer than 14 days
Stanley Cup Final: Fewer than 13 days
Where teams will be staying at the start of the play-in rounds
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) July 9, 2020
Devils announce Ruff hire and removal of interim tag from Fitzgerald
NHL: The New Jersey Devils announced they have hired Lindy Ruff to be their next head coach.
“I’m super excited to become a part of the Devils family,” Ruff said. “There’s a great history there, the Stanley Cups speak for themselves. I know there’s a great foundation that has been built along with management and (general manager) Tom , the ownership, looking to build the rest of the pieces and take this team in the right direction, get in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and go from there. So I can’t say enough about how humbled I am for this opportunity going through this process. I really feel like this is a great fit and I can’t wait to get going.”
Alain Nasreddine was considered for the permanent position. He’ll remain with the team. Other candidates who received consideration include Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette and John Stevens.
Rob Taub: Elliotte Friedman on NHL Network said that Peter Laviolette and the Devils were in negotiations but couldn’t come to a deal. The Devils then moved on to Ruff.
Amanda Stein: New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald: “Managing was something that I really had a passion for… so here we are. My interim tag has been ripped off… I went about my day as the GM of this team starting on Jan 13, never looked at it any other way, never treated any different.”