Sheldon Keefe can't take all the blame for the New Jersey Devils' failures last season. The Devils missed the playoffs a year after their first-round elimination at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, but Keefe's team actually had the same number of wins and just four fewer points. Unfortunately, the rest of the Eastern Conference progressed, while the Devils stayed stagnant and fell six places in the standings.
There is no reason to believe that the Devils won't have a chance to return to the playoffs again during the 2026-27 season. For starters, the conference may not be as top-heavy as it was this past season, while New Jersey is also hopeful that Jack Hughes won't miss 18 games due to a team supper-related injury.
Keefe deserves the benefit of the doubt from last season, but if the Vegas Golden Knights taught anyone anything this past season, even former Stanley Cup Champions aren't safe from losing their job in a playoff season. After firing Bruce Cassidy due to some locker room concerns, John Tortorella entered the fray and led the dead-on-arrival squad to the Stanley Cup Final.
Keefe may deserve one more chance to prove that he is the right man for the job, but that doesn't mean Sunny Mehta won't make an in-season change if he believes that to be untrue. Truthfully, Tortorella doesn't seem like the ideal fit for an analytically inclined general manager, but if it's just for him to be the closer in the playoffs, he might be the perfect fit.
Sunny Mehta might want his own coach for the New Jersey Devils
Mehta is adopting Keefe and giving him an opportunity to prove himself, but it wouldn't be the first time that a general manager has used that strategy before moving on to a different coach the following season. The Devils are a deep enough team to make a playoff push, especially if they make some additions this offseason, and Mehta might have someone in mind who can push them over the finish line.
Mehta likely wouldn't hire his own guy without an extensive search, which you really can't do mid-season. However, the Devils also won't punt on a season if they are in the playoff push just to keep Keefe in the fold, only to fire him in the offseason. If that is the case, play Torts' music and bring him out of the bullpen for the final three outs of the season.
Tortorella could come in and try to recreate the magic of this past postseason with the Golden Knights, with the understanding that he'll likely be out of work again once the playoffs end. He has some familiarity with Jack Hughes after being on the bench for the New Jersey superstar's golden goal at this year's Olympics, much like his familiarity with Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin in Vegas, and could bring a different voice.
With the Devils likely having to come out of the Metropolitan Division unless they make the playoffs through the wild-card, the motivation for Tortorella to get one more crack at Rod Brind'Amour and the Carolina Hurricanes might be all the 69-year-old would need to coach for one more run. Ironically, if Mehta opts for a more long-term option, it might be the man Tortorella replaced in Vegas, Bruce Cassidy, who would be the perfect fit for the job.
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