The Devils are hiring Sheldon Keefe to be their next head coach, according to multiple reports.
Keefe spent the last five seasons behind the bench as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, until he was fired on May 9, a week after a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Boston Bruins in overtime of Game 7.
Keefe, 43, took the Leafs to the playoffs in each of his five seasons in charge after taking over in November 2019. But, Toronto failed to get past the opening round in four of those years, winning one out of six playoff series. He did tally a 212-97-40 record over 349 career regular season games.
Before taking over at the NHL level, Keefe was head coach of Toronto’s AHL affiliate, the Marlies. Over parts of five seasons there, he put together a 200-89-31 record with four trips to the playoffs and a Calder Cup title in 2018.
In his playing days, he was the 47th overall pick in the 1999 NHL Draft for the Tampa Bay Lightning but his career ended after five seasons and he entered coaching.
Keefe takes over for Lindy Ruff, who was fired in early March. Travis Green served as the interim head coach for the remaining 21 games of the 2023-24 NHL season. Green accepted the Ottawa Senators’ vacant head coaching position job on May 7.
