In the short term i think this is almost guaranteed to be the case. Literally anyone could come in and look like a genius because the Devils will almost certainly (about to knock on an entire forest’s worth of wood here) have better injury luck next year, they’ll almost certainly have upgraded the goalie position(s), and a whole lot of players are gonna be heading into the offseason and into training camp with massive chips on their shoulders.Of the names assumed to be in play, my hierarchy would be
Sullivan/Keefe
Woodcroft
Berube
Anyone else
With the caveat that I'm firmly in team most coaches won't meaningfully change the results.
But a coach is gonna be the major factor in assessing the roster over the next few years and attempting to mold it into a team that’s prepared for deep playoff runs. That’s where i feel like they really need to find the right guy, but of course there’s no way for us fans to judge whether that’s successful until after the fact.