Kris Knoblauch still makes sense for the New Jersey Devils, but do they make sense for him?

When the Edmonton Oilers shocked the NHL world by targeting Bruce Cassidy while Kris Knoblauch still on the payroll, it put them in a bad position. Essentially, they had no choice but to fire their current head coach. 

At that moment, it started to make sense for the New Jersey Devils to reconsider Sheldon Keefe as head coach. Knoblauch has had more playoff success than Keefe in a much smaller window. He has the resume to succeed for a long time. However, he sits here near the end of June without a job.

The head coaching openings have dried up. Ryan Craig got the open Vegas Golden Knights job, leaving the Oilers job as the only opening left. Knoblauch’s former job is likely going to Mike Babcock, which sounds like a good move to send Connor McDavid sprinting out the door. 

With no jobs open, Knoblauch can sit at home and enjoy his new extension as he assesses what to do next. According to NHL rules, teams must pay out the contract of a coach once they are let go. Since Knoblauch was fired before his extension kicked in, he will get the full payment of the contract until another team signs him to a bigger deal.

That leaves us to our very unlikely scenario. Could the Devils convince Kris Knoblauch to join Sheldon Keefe’s staff? 

It sounds like an insane ask, but let’s go over why it might be appealing. For one, New Jersey has had a history of assistant coaches turning into head coaches. It happened with Andrew Brunette and Travis Green, who are coaching the Predators and the Senators, respectively. Knoblauch will likely get another head coaching job right away, but if he becomes a great assistant in New Jersey, he’d immediately be every team’s top candidate.

Kris Knoblauch would be a slam dunk hire for the New Jersey Devils

This could lead to an even bigger contract. He could become one of the highest paid head coaches in the NHL. 

On top of that, he could just take the Devils’ job. Adding Knoblauch to Keefe’s staff puts pressure on Keefe to perform at his best. If he doesn’t, the Devils could just move on to someone already in the building. This is actually how the 2000 Devils won the Stanley Cup. They reassigned Robbie Ftorek and went with Larry Robinson, who was well-versed in what made that roster tick. 

The opportunity to coach Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier has to intrigue Knoblauch, as well. He had a similar (but much better) situation with his two centers in Edmonton. Could he drive a successful offense with this core? We’ve seen it done with Brunette. Knoblauch can do it as well. 

The most likely scenario is Knoblauch waits to see what opens up during the season, but Sunny Mehta needs to throw as much as he can at Knoblauch to at least get him to consider the Devils. It would be the biggest win Mehta could have this offseason. 

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