With playoffs over for Habs, Blackhawks, Haviland and Muller are expected to interview for Devils coaching position

Now that Round One is over, expect many assistants of various eliminated teams in the playoffs to be interviewed for Head Coaching vacancies. One vacancy is the New Jersey Devils, who have not yet began their coaching search, but are expected to do so in the coming month of May. Two most notable names are Blackhawks assistant Mike Haviland and Canadiens assistant Kirk Muller. Both coaches would become first year Head Coaches in the NHL if one or both are hired. My guess is that Muller will definitely be a Head Coach somewhere in 2011-2012. Two teams linked to his name are the Devils and Dallas Stars since he has had past connections to those two teams.

Haviland is also a future coach, but the question is when. He is a New Jersey resident in the offseason and has had small connections with the Devils organization. He was heavily interested in the Devils coaching vacancy before the job went to John MacLean. However, MacLean was a first year coach and that experiment failed worse than failure itself. So, the Devils are likely to go with experience unless Lou Lamoriello sees something in Muller or Haviland he did not see in John MacLean. Muller is close friends with MacLean, so Haviland might have a slight edge over him for NJ.

I think Muller will end up in Dallas with MacLean as a possible assistant. Both however will get looks in NJ by Lamoriello, but I think Ken Hitchcock, Andy Murray and Michel Therrien are the front runners in NJ. Haviland is also expected to generate interest from the Florida Panthers due to his connections with former Blackhawks GM and Current Panthers GM Dale Tallon. Other vacancies are Minnesota and Ottawa. Neither of the five vacancies are expected to be filled until we draw closer to the conclusion of the playoffs, so early June at the earliest.