The New Jersey Devils today announced that the club has named Leo Luongo Director of Goaltending while adding Ted Donato and AJ MacLean as assistant coaches and Dan Stewart as a goaltending coach to complete Sheldon Keefe’s coaching staff. The announcements were made by General Manager Sunny Mehta.
LEO LUONGO
Luongo now oversees all goaltending development and reports to Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Martin Brodeur. He will work with New Jersey Devils Goaltending Coach Dan Stewart, Utica Goaltending Coach Brian Eklund, and New Jersey’s Head Amateur Goalie Scout/Development Coach Manny Legace, while monitoring the organization's current and potential future goaltenders. Additionally, he will work with New Jersey’s professional and amateur scouting staffs on identifying talent while working with the team’s current draft picks and prospects.
Luongo, 41, spent the past 10 seasons with the Florida Panthers organization at both the American Hockey League (AHL) and NHL levels, which included player development and goaltending coaching. His tenure with Florida began in the AHL with Springfield and then Charlotte, where he served as the team’s Goaltending Coach from 2016-17 through 2023-24. He was a member of Florida’s then newly created Goaltending Excellence Department, which worked with all the organization’s goaltenders on scouting and development. He added the responsibilities as Head of Goalie Development and Scouting for the past two seasons. Luongo was with the organization for the consecutive Stanley Cup titles in 2024 and 2025
Born on July 24, 1984, in Montreal, Quebec, Luongo’s coaching career began in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in 2008-09 with Acadie-Bathurst. In 2012-13, he also spent time as goaltending consultant for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. Following five seasons in the QMJHL, he moved overseas to Switzerland for three seasons, working with the HC Lugano program from 2013-16. Luongo worked throughout Lugano’s program, serving as the goaltending coach for the U15 to U20 teams, and the professional HC Lugano club, before returning to the AHL in 2016-17.
TED DONATO
Donato, 57, joins New Jersey after spending 22 seasons as Head Coach at Harvard University. Donato earned 334 career wins at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) level with Harvard, the most all-time by a Head Coach in the program’s history. The Boston, Massachusetts, native led Harvard to eight NCAA Tournament appearances, a Frozen Four berth in 2016-17, and four ECAC Hockey titles. Harvard most recently won the ECAC Hockey title in 2021-22. Donato also led Harvard to a Beanpot title in 2016-17, marking the program’s first win in the annual tournament since 1992-93.
Born on April 28, 1969, Donato played in four seasons at the forward position with Harvard from 1987-88 to 1990-91, tallying 144 career points (50g-94a) in 106 games. Harvard named Donato captain during his Senior season, and he finished with a collegiate career-high 56 points (19g-37a). He also helped Harvard win an NCAA title during the 1988-89 season, after tallying 51 points (14g-37a) in 34 contests.
At the professional level, the Boston Bruins selected Donato with the 98th overall pick in the 1987 NHL Draft. He played in parts of 13 NHL seasons, from 1991-92 to 2003-04, with Boston, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles, and the New York Rangers. Donato’s played in the NHL. He tallied 347 career points (150g-197a) in 796 career games, including 528 career contests with Boston.
Donato represented the United States as a player and coach several times throughout his hockey career. He played in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) 1988 World Junior Championship (WJC) and later led the U.S. with seven points (4g-3a) at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games. The U.S. named Donato captain for the IIHF’s 1997 World Championship (WC) and he also represented the U.S. at the 1999 and 2002 WC.
Donato resides in Scituate, MA, with his wife, Jeannine, and their four children: Ryan, Jack, Nolan and Madelyn. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010.
AJ MacLEAN
MacLean, 42, had served as Assistant Coach with Tampa Bay’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate in Syracuse since 2023-24. Syracuse clinched a Calder Cup Playoff berth in all three seasons during MacLean’s tenure and won the AHL’s championship in 2018. Before his stint in Syracuse, MacLean was an assistant coach in the AHL for Toronto from 2015-16 until the end of the 2022-23 campaign.
He was a member of New Jersey’s current Head Coach Sheldon Keefe’s staff in the AHL with Toronto from 2015-16 until 2019-20. Toronto won three North Division championships during MacLean’s tenure with the team and won the Calder Cup in 2018. He also served as Keefe’s assistant with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League for two seasons (2013-14, 2014-15).
Born on August 31, 1983, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, MacLean played Junior hockey in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for Halifax from 2000-01 to 2002-03. He played professionally in the UHL, ECHL, CHL and IHL over the course of six seasons, until 2009-10, and ended his playing career in the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League with Dundee from 2010-11 to 2012-13. MacLean was named captain and a player/assistant coach for Dundee in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
MacLean is the son of former NHL Head Coach Paul MacLean.
DAN STEWART
Stewart spent the last six seasons with the St. Louis Blues organization, serving as both the Goaltending Development Coach for the Blues and the Goaltending Coach for the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League (AHL). His responsibilities included working with the team’s AHL goalies and traveling to support St. Louis’s goaltending prospects, including those in the ECHL and drafted picks playing across North America. His development work, while with Springfield, included working with current and former NHL netminders Joel Hofer, Colten Ellis, Malcolm Subban, Garret Sparks, and Charlie Lindgren.
Prior to his position in St. Louis/Springfield, he served as goaltending coach for the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), from 2016-17 to 2019-20. During that time, he also held the same position with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks (USports) men's hockey program from 2016 to 2020. While with the Greyhounds, he was on the coaching staff alongside Devils’ alumnus Joe Cirella. He entered the junior hockey landscape coaching Coburg (OJHL) from 2011-12 to 2016-17, returning to the team where he played from 1992-94.
Stewart served as goaltending coach at Fairfield University (ACHA), and as a goalie consultant with St. Lawrence University and Plattsburgh State University at the NCAA level.
As a player, he played parts of the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons with London (OHL) before heading off collegiately, where he played over 50 games with Saint Mary's University (CIAU), earning a degree in business management as an undergrad.
Born on February 16, 1976, in Port Hope, Ontario, Dan and his wife, Brandy, reside in Bowmanville, Ontario, and have four children, Braden, Julia, Boston, and Georgia.
