At times during this season, it seemed almost obvious that the New Jersey Devils would move on from head coach John Hynes. After an awful end to the season, he finds himself still as the head of the bench.
New Jersey Devils head coach John Hynes was like most of the team this year; he had a very down year. He had his own version of a sophomore slump.
With undoubtedly a much more talented team, he came out with a worse record. Despite the fact that he got less out of more, he is given another chance, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
We’ve seen players come out of the dreaded sophomore slump, so why not a coach? Hynes is only in his second year in the big leagues after a very successful career in the AHL. He clearly knows how to coach.
The issues this season were tenfold. He could not turn Cory Schneider around after he clearly lost his confidence. He made some bad decisions with line changes, outside of keeping the dominant first line together. His defense was basically old western saloon doors that didn’t provide much give before running into Schneider. The offense had a plethora of talent with additions of Taylor Hall and P.A. Parenteau combined with Adam Henrique and Kyle Palmieri coming off 30 goal seasons.
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This offseason is crucial, so general manager Ray Shero’s decision to hold onto Hynes means he sees him as the coach of the future, even if that could change by this time next year. With the expansion draft, some hard decisions need to be made. A ton of cap space means the team needs to “wow” free agents so they can wear the red and black. Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood need to continue to grow. Michael McLeod and Blake Speers could see times in the NHL next season. All four of them are crucial to the next decade of Devils hockey, so Hynes cannot mess up their career start.
Hynes will have a short leash next year. Especially if changes come in the form of major defensive help (Kevin Shattenkirk please) and a few depth forwards. If the first two months of next season look like the last two months of this season, Hynes won’t have a job. As of right now, Hynes is safe and could be the future behind the bench.