Grading Potential Coaching Fits for the New Jersey Devils

How do Jay Woodcroft, Craig Berube, Sheldon Keefe, and Todd McLellan stack up as coaching candidates?

The New Jersey Devils’ head coaching vacancy should be one of, if not the most sought-after destination in the NHL. The mixture of high-end talent and being one of the younger teams in the league should be enough of a reason for any coaching candidate to be salivating at the possibility of leading the Devils. In recent weeks, a few candidates have made themselves apparent: Jay Woodcroft, Craig Berube, Sheldon Keefe, and Todd McLellan. Let’s analyze them as coaches and see how well they would fit the Devils:

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Jay Woodcroft

If ever there was a perfect fit for a team and coach, it’s the Devils and Jay Woodcroft. The ex-Edmonton Oilers coach was let go in November of 2023 after the Oilers got off to an abysmal start — something I will touch on a bit later. His coaching tenure, albeit a short one, held the best win percentage of any coach in Oilers history (.643).

The Oilers are a team built on speed and skill; there are a few names in there that throw their bodies around and are conventionally thought of as gritty players (Evander Kane, Darnell Nurse, Corey Perry, Mattias Ekholm), but for the most part, their meat and potatoes are speed and skill. On the front end, the Oilers have high-end finesse players in Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Further down in their lineup, there are players like Dylan Holloway and Warren Foegele who have the depth scoring locked down with skill more so than grit. On defense, Evan Bouchard is the bona fide best defenseman on that team — and he does so using finesse — while Mattias Ekholm is the rare breed of two-way defenseman who is both skilled and gritty.

The Devils are similarly built: in terms of high-end skill and finesse, there is obviously Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Timo Meier, who is another one of those rare breeds who is the best of both worlds. Whereas the bottom half of the forward corps is more grit-focused — or at least was in 2023-24 — the defense corps is more finesse-based, with Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec leading the charge.

Considering that the Oilers’ defensive depth is completely and undeniably lacking, what he was able to do impact-wise on the back end is outright admirable. In 2022-23, the Oilers gave up 7% fewer expected goals against per 60 minutes (xGA/60) than league average, and in the 13 games Woodcroft coached in 2023-24, the Oilers’ defense ramped up to allowing 10% fewer xGA/60 than league average. He switched up his defensive system to a 1-4-1 formation in 2023-24, and despite media criticism (which, might I add, only arose because of godawful goaltending), the defensive metrics of the team improved.