New Jersey Devils part ways with coach after dreadful start to the season

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Tom Banks
November 6, 2024 (7:40 PM)

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The New Jersey Devils AHL affiliate is off to a terrible start in 2024/25, and now the organization has parted ways with their Head Coach Kevin Dineen.

While the New Jersey Devils have high hopes remaining of a deep playoff run this season, the same can't be said for their AHL affiliate the Utica Comets, who have posted a dreadful 0-8-1 record through nine games on the season. That record sees them sit dead last in the Eastern Conference in 2024/25, and now the team has officially parted ways with Kevin Dineen, who hasn't been able to get them in the win column yet this season.

The 61-year-old is a veteran of over 1,100 games played in the NHL before joining the coaching ranks, where he has served as a coach in both the AHL and the NHL, spending time as an assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks during the era of Joel Quenneville. Unfortunately, his record isn't as stellar as one would hope with such experience, and after three seasons with the team, he is now officially gone.

«Unfortunately, after the start we had to this season, the organization felt it was time to make a change while the season is still young,» said MacKinnon. «We thank Kevin for his time with Utica and wish him and his family all the best moving forward.»

Despite the poor start to this season, Dineen actually helped the Comets to an AHL record in 2021, recording 13 straight victories to start the season, a record that still stands today, but now after his struggles, it makes sense to move on from him. In Dineen's place, Utica will turn to assistant Ryan Parent, who at 37 years of age has been with the team for the past seven years, and while turning things around certainly won't be easy, it was time for the team to make a chance, so the hope is that this can spark their season to a major turnaround.