BREAKING: Devils Fire Lindy Ruff, Name Travis Green Interim Head Coach

On Monday evening, the New Jersey Devils announced that they have relieved head coach Lindy Ruff of his duties.

The Devils also announced that Travis Greene will step in as the Devil’s interim head coach for the rest of this season. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald made the announcement.

No other changes to the coaching staff have been made as Green will start in his role at Tuesday’s morning skate in advance of that night’s game versus Florida.  He will lead the staff of existing assistants Ryan McGill, Chris Taylor, Sergei Brylin, and goaltending coach, Dave Rogalski. 

Ruff’s reign as the Devils’ head coach lasted three-plus seasons. In 281 games behind the Devils’ bench, Ruff accrued a 128-125-28 record. Last season, Ruff led the Devils to a 112-point season, a 52-22-8 record. The NHL’s third-best Devils then defeated the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs in seven games before being bounced in the second round by the Carolina Hurricanes winning just one of five contests.

However, this season has not gone according to plan as the Devils sit outside of the playoffs looking in, with a 30-27-4 record thus far.

According to the press release, Fitzgerald said, “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.” 

“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.

“Travis has key experience running benches at the junior, AHL and NHL levels and knows that there are no shortcuts to success. He is a high-demanding individual who is familiar with the group and excited about working to get us back on track.”

Now taking over head coaching duties, Green was head coach of the Vancouver Canucks for parts of five seasons from 2017-18 to 2021-22 with a 133-147-34 record. Green led the Canucks to the Second Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs after the team posted a 36-27-6 record in the regular season.

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