Devils confirm Sheldon Keefe returning for 2026-27 season

The New Jersey Devils will be keeping Shelden Keefe as their head coach for the 2026-27 season, according to multiple insiders.

Recently hired general manager Sunny Mehta had been evaluating the head coach position since his hiring, and determined to bring back Keefe for next season. Keefe has two years remaining on his contract.

Keefe has spent the last two seasons as head coach of the Devils. New Jersey has gone 84-70-10 under his watch, which is 21st in the league in that span, with one playoff appearance in 2025. However, in the wake of a disappointing season which saw them finish 13th in the Eastern Conference with a 42-37-3 record, there were some thinking he would be let go, especially after general manager Tom Fitzgerald departed from the organization.

The Devils also announced they’ve made two changes to their coaching staff, relieving goaltending coach Dave Rogalski of his duties, along with moving assistant coach Sergei Brylin to a new role in the organization.

At this point in time, what role Brylin will now have in the organization is not known. The Devils also mentioned in their statement that they were searching for replacements for both roles, although the frontrunners for either position are not known.

Rogalski had spent the past six seasons in the Devils organization as their goaltending coach. During his tenure, the Devils had the fourth-worst save percentage in the NHL at .891. He oversaw 13 different goaltenders, with only Jake Allen and Vitek Vanecek having a SV% above .900 with more than 10 games played during Rogalski’s tenure.

Brylin had spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach for the Devils, and been in the organization as an assistant/associate coach for their AHL affiliate for 10 years before that. Brylin also played the entirety of his NHL career with the Devils, spanning from 1994 to 2008.