- Sheldon Keefe is returning as Devils head coach despite the team missing the playoffs
- Goaltending coach Dave Rogalski has been fired and assistant Sergei Brylin reassigned to a non-coaching role
- Read below for what new GM Sunny Mehta did with the staff and which assistant exits hurt most
Sunny Mehta made his first big swings as the Devils’ new GM on Tuesday.
Sheldon Keefe stays. Goaltending coach Dave Rogalski is out.
New Jersey confirmed Tuesday that Keefe will be back behind the bench for 2026-27, with two years left on his contract. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic broke the news. Mehta spent the past month sizing up the organization after taking over hockey ops in April, and he decided the head coach deserves another shot.
Keefe got the Devils to the playoffs in his first season behind the bench in 2024-25 before falling to Carolina in the first round without Jack Hughes, who was sidelined by shoulder surgery. Year two was a different story. New Jersey finished 42-37-3, missed the postseason, and cost longtime GM Tom Fitzgerald his job.
The staff didn’t escape so cleanly. Rogalski has been relieved of his duties and assistant Sergei Brylin is being shifted to a non-coaching role within the organization.
Rogalski had been with the Devils since 2020-21 and watched his goaltending tandem fall apart this season. Jacob Markstrom posted a 3.07 GAA and an .883 save percentage, both his worst marks in a decade. Jake Allen wasn’t much better.
Brylin’s exit from coaching is a softer landing for a Devils icon. The Russian forward played 765 games as a Devil from 1994 through 2008 and helped win three Stanley Cups. James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now reports Brylin won’t return in any coaching capacity but will stick with the franchise in another role.
Mehta has been moving fast. He hired Braden Birch as assistant GM earlier this month after the two worked together with Florida during the Panthers’ back-to-back Cup runs.
He also let executives Chuck Fletcher and Dan MacKinnon walk. Now the search starts for a new goaltending coach and a replacement on the bench.
Now Keefe gets a clean look at year three. The leash isn’t long, though. If Hughes stays healthy and the crease gets sorted out, Mehta’s vote of confidence might age well in a hurry.
