John Hynes has done a very good job with the New Jersey Devils as a rookie head coach at the NHL level and it appears that hasn't gone unnoticed.
.@NJDevils coach John Hynes has been named coach for the U.S. at the '16 IIHF World Championship, May 6-22 in Moscow/St Petersburg, Russia.
— Mike Morreale (@mikemorrealeNHL) April 8, 2016
While the Devils won't make the playoffs, obviously, they were in a playoff spot, or hovering around one, for much of the season despite being one of the odds on favorites to finish last in the NHL.
Excellent goaltending from Cory Schneider is a big reason why they've had some success, of course, but Hynes has put a very structured system in place and has done a nice job of getting a lot from a little with the Devils' roster this season.
They weren't the most talented team to begin with so when you factor in the likes of Mike Cammalleri, Patrik Elias and Schneider, among others, have all missed long periods of time with injuries it's amazing they were able to stay in the playoff race for so long.
Hynes has a history with USA Hockey from his work running the national development program for more than half of a decade, which surely helped his cause, but this is by no means a hand out job.
Again, Hynes did good work with a poor team this year and he is now being rewarded for that.
USA's first game is May 6th against Team Canada.
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