The New Jersey Devils had a far and wide search during the 2024 offseason to find their new head coach. GM Tom Fitzgerald was on the lookout for his next bench boss after he was forced to fire Lindy Ruff. The list of candidates was likely long, with interim head coach Travis Green at the top to start. There were reports that the Devils were considering former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft, Denver University head coach David Carle, and former Devils legend Jay Pandolfo.
Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald said that he interviewed up to 10 candidates before hiring Sheldon Keefe. Keefe, of course, wasn’t available until late in the search. He was fired after the Toronto Maple Leafs lost in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Fitz said he spoke with 8-10 coaches for the job including “a few that I knew weren’t ready for the job” but will be solid NHL coaches one day
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) May 28, 2024
Once Keefe became available, he was the most likely candidate. He checked a lot of boxes for the Devils, who were looking for a coach who could take this team to that next level. This young group isn’t so young anymore, so taking a chance on a development coach or on a coach with little NHL experience didn’t make sense.
That didn’t stop many from speculating that Fitzgerald could have interviewed some young candidates before landing on Keefe. One of those candidates that many speculated about is Washington Capitals assistant coach and former AHL head coach Mitch Love.
Now, to be clear, there isn’t concrete evidence they even considered him, but it would make sense. Love was getting attention for his resume. He was once the Coach of the Year while running the Calgary Flames’ AHL squad. He already had a decent first year with the Washington Capitals, and he was going to be retained on Spencer Carberry’s squad for year two.
Love was too early in his coaching career to get the Devils' job, but how Fitzgerald explained the process, it would make sense if he was looking into his division rival’s assistant coach. This season, after the Capitals shocked everyone with how well they played, Love was close to getting some of the open jobs this cycle. He lost out on those jobs, including the one in Boston and Pittsburgh, and many thought he’d remain a top candidate until he got a job.
Turns out, there’s a reason he didn’t get any head coaching gigs. And now, he’s being forced to step away from the game, at least temporarily.
Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love has been placed on team-imposed leave pending results of an investigation by the National Hockey League. We will refrain from further comment until the NHL’s investigation is complete.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) September 14, 2025
It’s one thing to have your assistant coach entrenched in a scandal just days before training camp opens. It’s something completely different when it’s the head coach. The biggest issue is the matter at hand reportedly happened prior to Love’s acceptance of the Capitals’ job in 2023, so it would be way before the Devils hired a head coach in 2024.
Love is actually a former Albany River Rats player, but that is the only real tie he has to the Devils organization.
The Devils don’t have to deal with the public relations nightmare happening in the nation’s capital right now. This could be a distraction for the Capitals. There’s no way the Devils could have known whatever is happening with Love was going to bubble to the surface, but they have to be happy they avoided the situation.