The New Jersey Devils made a massive change behind the bench after Sunny Mehta replaced Tom Fitzgerald as general manager. The HUGE change didn't happen, as Sheldon Keefe was retained as head coach, but most of the staff has been replaced.
The biggest surprise was the loss of Jeremy Colliton. It's not clear what caused him to leave New Jersey after one year, but it sounds like he's taken a job outside of hockey.
Of course, the Devils had to make quick moves to replace their entire coaching staff, essentially short of defensive specialist Brad Shaw. They made a few very interesting decisions, including a whole new way to approach goaltending coaching and development, but the additional hires seem like they are going to put the Devils in the right direction.
The one who had the most people talking was long-time Harvard head coach Ted Donato. He was behind the bench for the Crimson for 22 seasons. That’s a fascinating hire, seeing a head coach take an assistant job at the next level after leaving a place where he had immense job security. With NIL and the transfer portal, many long-time college coaches have become dejected with the state of college sports, so that might be the case with Donato as well.
What does Ted Donato bring to the New Jersey Devils?
Donato obviously brings a ton of head coaching and development experience into the locker room. He will be a good option for Keefe to bounce ideas off and keep the team moving forward. He’s also an option if things don’t work out and the Devils need to look for an interim option. Shaw is also an option for that.
Let’s not focus on that now, but let’s see how Donato will enhance what Keefe is already doing, especially on the power play.
First, let’s acknowledge one thing. Last year was not the best coaching job. It’s not all Keefe’s fault. Jack Hughes’ injury, the Quinn Hughes trade debacle, Dougie Hamilton’s ill-advised benching and constant trade rumors, Simon Nemec’s final season in New Jersey, Jacob Markstrom’s ineffectiveness, and the laundry list of other injuries (especially Brett Pesce) made this an impossible mountain to climb. Everything we just listed was beyond Keefe’s control, but the on-ice product showed that everything happening off the ice impacted the Devils. That’s on a coaching staff to get the players singularly focused.
Donato has experience with the ups and downs of a hockey season and the impacts happening off the ice. He coached at Harvard University. There is quite a lot of pressure outside of the hockey rink to succeed.
As far as the on-ice product, Donato has a history with his new role that should excite Devils fans. His most prominent responsibility is the power play. While something got lost with a man advantage last season, in 2023-24 and 2024-25, Harvard’s power play was over 22%.
We saw what he could do with a mixture of Sean Farrell and Matthew Coronato on the PP recently. He used Farrell to drive the play, and Coronato finished it.
There are roles for the Devils that feel similar to that. Jack Hughes is the play driver on New Jersey. He’s always and forever going to play that role as long as he is wearing red and black.
Donato’s power play focuses on movement, which has been a recent criticism of the Devils' power play. Hughes is always moving, but the rest of PP1 seems to be waiting for him to do something. Donato won’t accept that.
When thinking about that “finisher” role, the Devils have a few options, but the most intriguing is newly signed Anthony Mantha. He is a big-bodied scorer. He is coming off a season where he had 33 goals with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mantha might have an incredibly hard shot, which helps with those goals; he actually relies on positioning to stay in goal-scoring areas. He took 65 shots from high-danger areas last season, according to NHL EDGE stats. That’s more than twice the league average.
Donato’s zone entry concepts will really help the Devils where they were incredibly weak last season. A guy like Jesper Bratt, who holds the puck when Hughes doesn’t, or Nico Hischier will really excel with this type of coaching, both on the PP and at even strength.
Overall, Donato should bring a really valuable system to enhance what the Devils are already doing under Keefe. He should keep the Devils power play at the top of the league and even keep it sustainable throughout the season.
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