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John Hynes will behind the Nashville Predators bench for Tuesday night's house video game versus Boston, one month after being fired as head coach of the New Jersey Devils.
The Predators, who run out playoff position in the NHL's Western Conference, made the announcement a little bit more than 12 hours after dismissing bench boss Peter Laviolette on Monday night together with associate coach Kevin McCarthy.
"This is a tremendous chance to sign up with a company with a history of success, a group with tremendous skill and a phenomenal fanbase," Hynes, the 3rd head coach in the Predators' 21-year history, said in declaration. "This company has a strong foundation, from its ownership and executives to the entire front-office staff, and I'm thrilled to come in and attempt to optimize this team's capabilities."
The Predators won 248 regular-season video games under Laviolette and reached the playoffs each of his very first 5 seasons.
Nashville lost to Pittsburgh in six games in the 2017 Stanley Cup last, won the Presidents' Trophy and made it to the second round of the playoffs in 2018 and last spring was removed in the preliminary.
Poile traded away defenceman P.K. Subban, Nashville's highest-paid gamer, and signed free-agent forward Matt Duchene to a $56 million, seven-year agreement on July 1. But the Predators sputtered through the very first half of this season. They hadn't won more than two straight video games since a four-game streak in late October.
This marked the sixth NHL coaching change of the season.
'Bright young coach'
New Jersey fired Hynes on Dec. 3 after an awkward 7-1 loss to Buffalo dropped its record to 9-13-4.
After dismissing Hynes, Devils general manager Ray Shero said, "John is a respected leader [and] developer of skill."
"John Hynes is bright young coach and great leader who has a performance history of both effectively establishing young gamers and effectively encouraging veterans," Predators GM David Poile stated. "We love his training resume and are positive that he has gained from every stop during his profession, and has the finest capability to get the maximum potential out of our group."
2011 AHL coach of year
In New Jersey, Hynes helped 2017 first total draft choice Nico Hischier end up being an intense young NHLer and assisted in the development of forward Kyle Palmieri, who developed career highs in goals (30) and points (57) during his first season with the Devils in 2015-16.
John Hynes must be an excellent fit with @PredsNHL as they have the workers particularly with an extremely talented D core to play more of a puck possession video game. Unique groups require a facelift at 23rd PP && amp; 29th PK which will be a top priority. I anticipate a big uptick here! < @NHLNetwork & mdash; @brianlawton9 I like the demand rate in the group video game. Nash city has the skill to take it to another level, and (I think) will under Hynes. & mdash; @Rupper17 Before signing up with the NHL coaching ranks, Hynes was head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League from 2010-15. The local of Warwick, R.I., led the Pittsburgh Penguins 'affiliate to five consecutive Calder Cup playoff berths, consisting of back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference final in 2012-13 and 2013-14, and earned AHL coach of the year honours in 2011. Weding with three children, Hynes started his training profession at his alma mater of Boston University as an assistant under longtime Terriers
head coach Jack Parker in 1997-98. The one-time forward assisted BU to 4 straight Frozen Four appearances and was colleagues with Predators assistant GM Jeff Kealty.