Devils to consider Oates, Stevens for staff: report

Adam Oates and Scott Stevens will be considered as assistants under New Jersey Devils coach John Hynes if Oates and Stevens are willing, general manager Ray Shero told Northjersey.com on Tuesday.

The website said Oates and Stevens, who finished this season as Devils co-coaches with Lou Lamoriello, each interviewed for the job that went to Hynes, who was introduced Tuesday.

"That is something that will be addressed in terms of assistant coaches, and I haven't gotten that far with John, but they will definitely have that conversation," Shero said after the formal news conference. "That's certainly going to be up to John with his staff.

"The motivation sometimes will change [for] some people. Some might look for other opportunities. I don't know. But they'll certainly have that conversation with John as we move forward and try to put together [the staff] that includes them. Then, we'll answer all those questions. So, a step at a time, but, yes, they'll have that consideration."

Hynes, 40, is the youngest coach in the NHL; he has no prior NHL coaching experience. Oates was coach of the Washington Capitals for two seasons, and Stevens has worked with the Devils in a variety of roles since retiring as a player in 2004.

Oates and Stevens are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Hynes was coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, for the past five seasons. He was hired for that job by Shero, who at the time was Pittsburgh GM.

"I'm not going to have any preconceived notions of anyone," Hynes said. "To me, it's about the quality of person and the right fit of the energy level, the passion to coach, and I think the experience is important. So, we will look into that, but the most important thing is going to be to put together a staff that are great teachers, very good communicators, will bring value to our players and will be a real cohesive staff. We have to be integrated as a group and all on the same page."

New Jersey fired Peter DeBoer as coach Dec. 26. The Devils have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs four out of the past five seasons; they had 78 points this season, 20 out of the final wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"John and I have talked a little bit about the makeup of the staff, but not very far," Shero told writer Tom Gulitti. "We'll certainly start working on this as of today and moving forward, and in terms of making up the staff, I think John is open to all different kinds of things, and before he has any concrete ideas about anybody he'll get to know people here first, and I think that will lead us in a direction after we have some more conversations."