The New Jersey Devils have hired veteran coach Lindy Ruff as coach of one of the NHL’s youngest teams and removed the interim tag off Tom Fitzgerald’s title as general manager.
The Devils have scheduled a 1 p.m. ET conference call.
Ruff has been an assistant coach with the New York Rangers.
Ruff replaces interim coach Alain Nasreddine, who guided the team to a 19-16-8 record after John Hynes was fired on Dec. 3. Fitzgerald had served as interim general manager since Ray Shero was fired on Jan. 12.
The Devils posted a 28-29-12 record, missing the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years. Their season was halted by the coronavirus pandemic in March, and they were not among the 24 teams chosen to compete for the Stanley Cup when NHL play resumes.
During the pause, the Devils interviewed Nasreddine and former head coaches Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette and John Stevens.
The head-coaching job will be the third in the NHL for Ruff, 60. He coached the Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars, leading the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999. He was hired by the Rangers before the 2017-18 season. He has a 736-554-78-125 record.
A former defenseman, Ruff played in 691 NHL regular-season games and had 105 goals and 195 assists. He also appeared in 52 playoff games.
Gord Murphy, an associate coach with the AHL Wolf Pack, will replace Ruff behind the Rangers bench during the 24-team tournament this summer.
Information from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and The Associated Press was used in this report.