One year after leaving the Bruins organization for a head coaching gig in Germany, former B’s assistant coach Geoff Ward has resurfaced in the NHL as an assistant on the New Jersey Devils coaching staff. Ward will assist newly named Devils head coach and former Boston University standout John Hynes, who became the youngest head coach in the NHL at 40 years old.
Ward exited the Bruins organization around this time last summer, and took over head coaching duties for Adler Mannheim in the German Ice Hockey League. Ward was a hit in Europe, and won the league championship with the Eagles while also winning Coach of the Year honors. The 53-year-old assistant coach spent seven seasons as the top assistant on Claude Julien’s staff while winning a Stanley Cup in 2011, and was the architect of the team’s much-maligned power play unit among other duties.
“I welcome Geoff Ward and Alain Nasreddine to the Devils’ organization, and look forward to working with both of them,” said New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero in a press release. “John Hynes and I both feel that these are the ideal individuals to help develop and work with our players on all levels.”
One of the reasons behind Ward’s move to Europe was a nice little bump in pay from the NHL assistant coach’s salary, but it’s also interesting to note how quickly Ward returned to the league once an assistant job opened up in Jersey. He’ll be a veteran hand Hynes could certainly use on his staff as a rookie coach, but Ward’s ambition to one day coach his own NHL team was another reason for leaving the B’s to take a head coaching job.
So the choice to come back to New Jersey and the NHL so quickly as an assistant is worth noting.
In another interesting twist, the offensive-minded Adam Oates is one of the coaches not being retained in New Jersey this season after he was one of the notable candidates discussed to replace Ward on the Bruins staff last season.