The New Jersey Devils do not have a General Manager, nor a President of Hockey Ops. You know, people generally responsible for assembling a roster and coaching staff.
Despite that, the organization has somehow come up with a shortlist of five rumored finalists to be the team’s bench boss.
This has led many to believe the Devils could actually hire a coach prior to naming a GM. Apparently, they’re the only party failing to understand that’d be a disaster.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet mentioned that multiple GM candidates have pointed out as much.
Listening to the latest "31 Thoughts: The Podcast" and @FriedgeHNIC believes some of the people who have interviewed for the #NJDevils GM job have said to front office "you can't hire the coach before the GM".
— Devils Insiders (@DevilsInsiders) June 25, 2020
Reads like coaching search is on hold until GM role is figured out.
It *sounds* like the Devils are changing their plans and putting the coaching search on the backburner for now. That’s good news.
What’s concerning is they needed X amount of people to tell them what should have been common sense.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know hiring a coach before a GM is a horrendous idea. Let’s say ownership loved Randy Carlyle, for example. He would be all-in on heavy hockey. What happens when you hire a modern GM who wants to build a team around speed and puck possession at the expense of size? The simple answer: nothing good.
I’m extremely interested to see where the coaching search goes for here. We know all the names in the hat now.
If they don’t change when a GM is finally put in place, it’ll be a pretty telling sign that ownership is calling the shots. They can absolutely do that – it’s their team – but it’s probably not the best recipe for success.
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