Report: Devils Travis Green ‘Serious’ Coaching Candidate for Another Eastern Conference Team

The NHL coaching carousel is spinning faster than ever before, and the New Jersey Devils include themselves in the merry-go-round.

As of Monday morning, there are eight coaching vacancies — including New Jersey — after Rick Bowness announced his retirement from the NHL, stepping away as the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. The other six vacancies are the San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, and Ottawa Senators.

As reported by Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, the Devils had serious talks with former Blues head coach, Craig Berube.

If said talks come to fruition, he’d step in as the official Lindy Ruff replacement, who has already found another job returning to Buffalo to coach the Sabres again.

Unofficially, it was Travis Green who stood in for Ruff as the interim head coach from March 4th through the end of the 2023-24 season.

Since the Devils’ season ended in April, General Manager Tom Fitzgerald cited Green as a serious candidate to be named the official head coach, however, needed to see what else was out there.

According to Garrioch, Green is a serious candidate to be hired by the Senators as the next head coach in Ottawa.

As of Monday afternoon, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman reported he’s hearing the same thing.

“I’m hearing all eyes on Travis Green [for the Ottawa coaching job]. Nothing is done until it’s done, but we’ll see what the next few days bring,” Friedman explained.

The Devils’ coaching staff has the chance to look a lot different next season. After the Toronto Maple Leafs were bounced in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, rumors have swirled that Sheldon Keefe could be fired in Toronto. As a result, speculation has arisen that his former boss, Kyle Dubas, would bring him to Pittsburgh, opening the door for the Devils to hire Mike Sullivan.

Fitzgerald said he wants to take his time searching for his next coaching candidate. However, that was about a month ago. With so many vacancies and a solid crop of head coaching candidates available, the Devils’ head coaching search could resolve itself sooner rather than later.