Devils Make Changes to Coaching Staff

The Devils announced today via a press release that there will be some changes behind their bench for the 2022-23 season.

So far, head coach Lindy Ruff will be retained, but his staff will look drastically different.

First up, assistant coach Alain Nasreddine, who had been with the team since the John Hynes regime and had in fact served as interim head coach between Hynes’ firing in 2020 and Ruff’s hiring in the 2021 offseason, “has mutually agreed to part ways with” the Devils.

Nasreddine’s contract will not be renewed by the Devils.

As well, “Mark Recchi has been relieved of his duties” as an assistant coach.

In another piece of news around the Devils, PK Subban has been nominated by the team for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for 2021-22.

The announcement was made in a post on the team’s app and website by writer Amanda Stein.

The award is given to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution to his community.” Stein said that the “winner will be chosen by a committee of senior NHL executives led by commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly.”

Subban continued his work within the Newark community, particularly through his Blueline Buddies program, which helps “to bridge the gap between law enforcement and underserved children” which Subban adapted for the Covid pandemic to become digitally based when in-person meet-and-greets were not feasible, which Stein notes in her article.

Stein said that the virtual meet-and-greets were done “in a designated Devils Zoom room” and be held prior “to the start of every home game.” Subban was available to the participants to answer questions and interact with the participants.

Subban has also worked tirelessly to create awareness for causes and people outside of his programs.

Congratulations to PK Subban on his nomination for the King Clancy Trophy and good luck to him on winning the award.

In one other noteworthy accomplishment to two members of the Devils’ television broadcast team, congratulations to both studio and ice level analyst Bryce Salvador and rink side reporter and studio reporter Erika Wachter, both of whom will be working first round playoff series for the NHL on TNT and TBS.

Salvador will be working the Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers series while Wachter will be working the Dallas Stars-Calgary Flames series.

Both will be working the same roles for Turner that they perform for Devils games on MSG.

Devils’ Assistant Coach Recchi to Join Philly Sports Hall of Fame

Another person connected to the Devils will be entering a hall of fame.

Amanda Stein is reporting that Devils’ assistant coach Mark Recchi will be a member of the 2021 class of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

Recchi, who Stein mentions is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, played for the Flyers from 1991-92 to halfway through 1994-95 and again from 1998 to 2004. He played 602 games (of his 1,652 career NHL games) for the Flyers and notched 232 goals and 395 assists for 627 total points in Philly. That was good, as Stein noted, for an over-a-point-per-game pace (1.04).

He is still the Flyers’ single season scoring leader, collecting 53 goals and 70 assists for 123 points in 1992-93.

Overall, he had 1,533 points over 1,652 games in the NHL playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning in addition to his two stints with the Flyers.

He won Stanley Cups with the Penguins (twice: in 1991 and 2008) and the Bruins (2011).

He also won two Cups with the Penguins while working the hockey ops (2016 and 2017). In Pittsburgh, he was an assistant coach and Director of Player Development. He joined the Devils in 2020 as an assistant coach.

Congratulations to Mark Recchi on this wonderful achievement.

In some other, admittedly sadder news, former Devils’ defenseman Tom Kurvers passed away today at the age of 58 of cancer. He had been serving as the assistant general manager of the Minnesota Wild at the time of his death.

Kurvers was born in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth where he won the Hobey Baker Award as the top NCAA men’s player in 1984.

He was drafted 145th overall in 1981 by the Montreal Canadiens and was in Montreal when the Habs won the Stanley Cup in 1986.

He was eventually traded to the Buffalo Sabres and, prior to the 1987-88 season, was dealt to the Devils. The Devils gave up a third-round pick in the 1987 Entry Draft (Andrew MacVicar).

In the 1988 playoffs during the Devils Cinderella run to the Wales Conference Finals, Kurvers notched six goals and nine assists for 15 total points.

He would play 131 games with the Devils – from 1987-88 to one game in 1989-90 – and collect 21 goals and 79 assists for an even 100 points.

On October 16, 1989, the Devils dealt him to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Toronto’s first-round pick in the 1991 Entry Draft. That pick would turn into Scott Niedermayer.

He played from 1984 until 1995 for the Canadiens, Sabres, Devils, Leafs, Islanders, Canucks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim – the team he retired from.

Following his playing career, he worked in broadcasting and scouting for the Phoenix Coyotes and the front office of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Wild. He was inducted into the University of Minnesota-Duluth Hall of Fame in 1991.

Condolences to the family and friends of Tom Kurvers.