The Devils finally ended all of the waiting and suspense this afternoon and announced in a Prudential Center news conference that they have hired Pete DeBoer as their head coach.
DeBoer, 43, spent the last three seasons as head coach of the Florida Panthers before being let go at the end of 2010-11. The Panthers went 103-107-36 under DeBoer, including 30-40-12 in 2010-11, and never qualified for the playoffs under him. His only winning record with Florida was in 2008-09 when the Panthers went 41-30-11 for 93 points, but lost a tiebreaker with Montreal for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Prior to working for the Panthers, DeBoer coached the Kitchener Rangers in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2007-08. The Rangers lost to Spokane in the 2008 Memorial Cup final.
It was during his time with Kitchener that DeBoer coached former Albany River Rats and current New Jersey Devils David Clarkson and Mark Fraser.
The rest of the New Jersey coaching staff has not been announced yet, as DeBoer only accepted the job earlier today. It is also unknown how Albany's coaching staff will be impacted by the announcement.
Note: Don Ferlazzo is not an employee of the Albany Devils, nor is this blog sponsored or influenced by the organization in any way.
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