The New Jersey Devils have reportedly interviewed Gerard Gallant. If he is hired, he would have a major impact on one play inparticular; Nico Hischier.
The New Jersey Devils have apparently interviewed Gerard Gallant last week for the vacant head coaching job. That is amazing news because he is one of the best coaches in the National Hockey League. He had some success with the Florida Panthers, but the highlight of his career so far has been his 2017-18 season with the Vegas Golden Knights. He won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year for his efforts that season.
He was randomly fired during the 2019-20 season, even though Vegas was well on their way to their third straight playoff berth to begin their franchise’s history. Now, it appears that the New Jersey Devils have some sort of interest for his services. The fact that he is the only person to be interviewed by any team so far is exciting if you are someone that wants him to be hired.
Well, one major reason to want Gallant is the impact he could have on the skilled players. One player that might benefit the most is Nico Hischier. He was the first-overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft and has been developing very nicely as a two-way centerman. Hischier has the potential to reach new heights and Gallant might be able to help him get there.
Vegas selected William Karlsson in the expansion draft and that has been a brilliant move for them. He has developed into one of the best two-way centers the game has since his arrival in Las Vegas. He had six goals and 19 assists for 25 points in 81 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the year before Vegas snagged him. Well, he has gone to Vegas and scored 82 goals and added 98 assists for 180 points in 227 games.
Nico Hischier has much more upside than William Karlsson did in his younger days so if Gallant can work his magic with him, it could do wonders. The Devils don’t ever need Hischier to be a 100 point player. He just needs to be in the 65-70 range with elite two-way play for him to be the perfect top-line center for New Jersey. They have Jack Hughes to lead the team in scoring and be the go-to guy to make a play. Hischier’s offensive skills, however, are great and Gallant can unlock it even further.
Gallant isn’t only successful in turning Karlsson into one of those elite two-way guys. He had Aleksander Barkov in Florida. He is now one of those types of players as well. In fact, he is even better than Karlsson. Barkov was the second overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft so he has the same level of upside as Hischier. The point totals that Barkov had early on also resembled that of Hischier. If Nico can become a two-way guy that is in the same conversation as those two guys. the Devils will be in good shape.
Obviously, there is still probably a lot more to be done before anything becomes official. In fact, the season with Alain Nasreddine isn’t even officially over yet. They would be wise to make this move whenever the time is right because Gallant is a great coach. New Jersey needs Hischier to be their best player or one of their two best players and Gerard can help him really be that guy.