“I hold our entire organization to the highest levels of accountability,” Said President Fitzgerald. “To focus on being a competitive team that expects to be a perennial playoff contender. Unfortunately, we are not currently at that level, and I needed to make this decision. This was an extremely difficult conversation to have with Lindy based on the relationship that he and I have. He was the right coach to develop our young players on the ice, and above all else, he is a tremendous person. Travis has key experience running benches at the junior, AHL, and NHL levels and knows that there are no shortcuts to success. He is a high-demanding individual who is familiar with the group and excited about working to get us back on track.”
Lindy Ruff’s Accomplishments
While the current season results are not looking so hot, Lindy Ruff was a formidable head coach. He was able to help get the team to a 128-125-28 record in 281 regular-season games over three seasons, plus a little extra. He was also able to achieve a 5-7 record in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. Of his own victories, he was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in 2023. That was after a first-round victory over the New York Rangers and a Devils franchise record of 52-22-8. In this year, his record was 30-27-4.
The Devils made it to the second round of the playoffs last season, but that success does not shine in this year’s games. The longer the season runs, the harder it seems to be for the Devils to claim that same victory. Their most recent losses come from just this weekend against the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings. They currently stand in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with 64 points, eight points away from the Eastern Conference running.
What Travis Green Brings To The Table
Embed from Getty Images
Travis Green, originally from Castlegar, British Columbia, had his start playing for the New York Islanders in the 1989 NHL Draft. He had a 970 regular-season game career, holding 455 points. Green played between 1992-93 and 2006-07. He was a skater with both the New York Islanders, as well as Toronto, Arizona/Phoenix, Boston, and Anaheim. Green was in seven different postseasons and also earned 21 points in 56 career Stanley Cup playoff games. It was during his time with the Islanders that he and Fitzgerald became friends; they were teammates in the 1992-93 season. They also played together in Toronto 2002-03 and Boston in 2005-06.
He started coaching in the Western Hockey League Portland Winterhawks in 2012-13, who won the WHL Championship title. They also made quite the headway in the 2012-13 Memorial Cup final. Then Green went to the American Hockey League with the Utica Comets from 2013-14 to 2016-17. Travis Green then became the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. He worked with them for over four seasons but eventually was fired in the 2021-22 campaign. Last June, Fitzgerald hired him as an Assistant Coach.
For More Great Sports Content
Total Apex Sports is an all-encompassing sports content producer. We provide heavily detailed articles every day on hockey, baseball, college sports, and so much more! Follow us @TotalApexSports on X. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in ALL sports, click here! For more articles by Lyric Gardehart, click here!