Hockey

New Jersey Devils Hire John MacLean As Head Coach

Lou Lamoriello has decided to finally give John MacLean the head coaching job for the New Jersey Devils

by
Staff Post
June 17, 2010

John MacLean has been named the new head coach of the New Jersey Devils.

MacLean was a Devils assistant coach for seven years before becoming the head coach of the teams minor league team in Lowell, MA. He had been passed over when the team hired new head coaches, Brent Sutter in 2007 and then again when Jacques Lemaire returned.

This time, with the experience of being a head coach under his belt, MacLean was given the chance by Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello.

Under MacLean, the Lowell Devils finished in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 39-31-4-6.

MacLean knows the Devils organization well, having been an assistant, the Lowell head coach, and having also played for New Jersey a few years.

The former right winger scored 842 points in 1,194 career NHL games. 934 of those games came as a New Jersey Devil. As a Devils player, MacLean scored 701 points, 347 of which were goals.

It appears MacLean beat out Michel Therrien and Mike Haviland for the job.

MacLean knows the players. He has played with some of them as well as coached some of the younger players. Many of the people around him truly respect MacLean.

“I really looked up to him. He helped me a lot as a player,” said Devils right winger David Clarkson. “From my first year in the league I looked up to him. I think this is a really good thing to happen. He’s played with some of the guys. He’s looked up to by a lot of the guys.”

MacLean also announced that Larry Robinson would be returning as an assistant coach. He also indicated Chris Terreri will remain on staff as the goaltending coach. A second assistant will be named at a later date.

Tommy Albelin will not be behind the bench but is expected to remain with the organization in some way.

Scott Stevens will be going back to his role as a roaming instructor between Trenton and Albany. The Devils minor league team is moving from Lowell back to Albany. Stevens is also expected to do some work with the Devils but will not be on the ice regularly.

Now Devils GM, Lou Lamoriello can focus on free agents and which players he will re-sign. Paul Martin and Ilya Kovalchuk can become unrestricted free agents on July 1st.