The Devils have settled on their first major moves of the2020 offseason, hiring Lindy Ruff as their new head coach and elevating Tom Fitzgerald to full-time general manager, .
The clubhas not commented on the report.
Ruff, 60 Joey Rickard Jersey , has 19 years of NHL head coaching experience with the Sabres and Stars, compiling a 571-432-78-84 regular-season record.He has 10 playoff appearances and one Stanley Cup Final appearance to his credit (1999 Sabres).
Ruff has been working as an a sistant with the rival Rangers since 2017after being fired by the Stars.
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He Chris Davis Jersey will be the permanent replacementforJohn Hynes, who was fired last December after a9-13-4 start. Interim coach Alain Nasreddine Heston Kjerstad Jersey led the club to a 19-16-8 record over its final 43games this season. The Devils finished last in the Metropolitan Division after the 2019-20 regular season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team reportedly interviewed Nasreddine, , Darren O'Day Jersey Gerard Gallant, John Stevens, and about a half-dozen other candidates in addition to Ruff for the position.
Fitzgerald, 51, was named New Jersey's interim GM on Jan. 12after the club fired Ray Shero. He helped to accelerate the club's roster shakeup with five trades prior to the February deadline. Most notably, he obtained the Rio Ruiz Jersey Canucks' first-round draft pick in 2020 or 2021 and Nolan Foote, a 2019 first-round pick,from the Lightning for forward Blake Coleman. He also picked up a2021 Tim Beckham Jersey second-round pick and prospect David Quenneville from the Islanders for defenseman Andy Greene.
His other trades sent Wayne Simmonds, Sami Vatanen and Louis Domingue out of New Jersey.
Fitzgerald will be working withthe seventh overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft per the results of Phase 1 of the draft lottery.
