The New Jersey Devils have announced that head coach Lindy Ruff has been relieved of his coaching duties. Travis Green has been named head coach for the remaining of the season. The New Jersey Devils currently sit eight points back of a wild card spot and seven points back of third place in the Metropolitan Division.

In the team’s release, general manager Tom Fitzgerald stated, “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.” He added, “Unfortunately, we are not currently at that level, and I needed to make this decision.”

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

As the current standing position indicates, it has been a tremendously underwhelming season for the Devils up to this point. The team had Stanley Cup aspirations, but thanks in large part to injuries and shaky goaltending, find themselves well outside the playoff race as the league’s Mach 8 trade deadline rapidly approaches.

Lindy Ruff’s Tenure

After being hired prior to the 2020-21 season, to succeed former bench boss John Hynes, Ruff led the Devils to two-straight sub-.500 seasons; 19-30-7 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season and 27-46-9 in 2021-22. Thanks in large part to terrific work by general manager Tom Fitzgerald, the team finally hit their stride during the 2022-23 season, posting a 52-22-8 record en rout to a playoff series win, in seven games over their rival New York Rangers, for the first time since 2011-12. The 52 wins and 112 points were the most the organization has ever posted in a single season.

All that built up success was seemingly lost in 2023-24 as New Jersey is quickly seeing their playoff hopes evaporate as they lost two of three during their California road trip. The season has been marred 31st-ranked save percentage and a plethora of injuries. Despite only having 21 games left, general manager Tom Fitzgerald is hoping this gives his team a jumpstart to end the season.

In all, Ruff ends his Devils coaching career with a 128-125-28 record. As mentioned, he won five playoff games with the team, all during that record-setting 2022-23 season.

Travis Green Is Up Next

Replacing Ruff, as an interim until season’s end, is 53-year-old Travis Green. Green was hired as the Devils’ associate coach back in June of 2023.

Green’s NHL career spanned 857 games, playing for a plethora of clubs. The Canadien was a former first-round pick of the New York Islanders all the way back in 1989.

As a coach, his first taste was in the WHL with the Portland Winterhawks. After taking over in an interim capacity, Green led Portland to a 37-8-0-2 record over the last 47 games and took them to the Memorial Cup. Green was then hired as head coach of the Utica Comets (AHL), when the team was still an affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks. Green spent four seasons with the Comets, bringing them to the playoffs in two of those years, losing in the Calder Cup during the 2014-15 season.

Green was then hired by the Canucks for the 2017-18 season. He spent parts of five seasons n Vancouver, the best of which being the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season. After going 36-27-9 in the regular season, the Canucks got past the qualifying round and first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs before losing in the second round. He was then fired by the Canucks in December of 2021 as the Canucks began the year 8-15-2.