Reasons for and Against New Jersey Devils Making Scott Stevens Their Next Coach

Scott Stevens is a New Jersey Devils legend. As the Devils' fiery, talented captain, he led the team to three Stanley Cup championships.

Could Stevens lead the Devils to success once again, this time as a head coach?

As he has spent the second half of this season in an unorthodox situation, co-coaching New Jersey with Adam Oates, he is one of the most visible candidates to take over the Devils' head-coaching vacancy. Stevens' assignment has been to work with the defensemen, while Oates has worked with the forwards.

On Friday, I examined the possibility of Oates taking over the head-coaching position next season, finding that he deserves to be a candidate, but certainly is not running away with the job. Does Stevens have better odds?

This list will examine the factors in play in Stevens' candidacy to be the Devils' next head coach. Much like Oates, he is a definite option for New Jersey, but he may have holes in his resume too big to ignore.

For: He Has Helped Adam Larsson Play the Best Hockey of His Young Career

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Adam Larsson crashes the net in an effort to make a defensive play.

In a season of disappointment, Adam Larsson has stood out as one of the few bright spots. 

The 22-year-old Swedish defenseman had yet to find consistent success in the NHL coming into this season, but he has certainly found it in the past three months. After two seasons of bouncing back and forth between the NHL and AHL, former coach Peter DeBoer began giving Larsson regular minutes in November. 

Larsson played easily the best defensive hockey of his NHL career up to that point before DeBoer was fired at the end of December, but he was clearly still hesitant to get involved offensively. While the defensive growth in his game was encouraging, the Devils surely did not want Larsson's immense offensive potential going to waste either. 

Since the coaching change, Larsson has improved his defensive play even further and finally found the offensive aspect of his game.

Larsson had four points in 18 games under DeBoer. He has 18 points in 40 games under the new coaching staff. With the departure of Marek Zidlicky at the trade deadline, Larsson now leads Devils defensemen in assists and points, despite having played in only 58 of the team's 76 games this season.

Since the change, he has spent the majority of his time on the team's top defensive pairing with Andy Greene. He averages well over 20 minutes of ice time a night, has a plus-three rating and is one of the team's top penalty killers.

Stevens' influence on Larsson has come in two forms. There is no doubt that working with a Hall of Fame defenseman on a daily basis has been helpful for the young Swede, but Stevens also gave Larsson the one thing he has been missing for the majority of his time in the NHL—confidence.

Larsson has repaid Stevens' trust.

For: Young Defensemen Will Continue to Play a Huge Role for the Devils

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Damon Severson, one of the Devils' young defensemen, takes a shot from the blue line.

Larsson is far from the only young defensemen set to play a big role for the Devils next season. Damon Severson, 20; Eric Gelinas and Jon Merrill, both 23; and Seth Helgeson, 24, all could conceivably be on New Jersey's opening day roster come October.

After seeing Stevens' work with Larsson for half of a season, the idea of him having a full training camp in charge of these players is a tantalizing one. 

The Devils already have a top goaltender in Cory Schneider and a top veteran defenseman in Andy Greene. If Stevens could help the young defensemen improve their play by the start of next season, New Jersey could be well on its way to having a team that is as difficult to score on as the Stanley Cup-winning teams Stevens played on during the 1990s and 2000s.

Against: New Jersey's Biggest Area of Concern Is Goal Scoring

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The Devils celebrate a rare goal. Can Stevens be a coach who helps the Devils score more?

It is no secret that the Devils' main issues are on offense. This season, New Jersey is averaging the third-lowest goals per game and is next to last in shots per game in the NHL.

So, the biggest improvements the Devils need to make next season have to do with forwards and goal scoring, which are not exactly Stevens' forte. Of course, this is not his fault, but it remains a huge flaw in a potential fit between Stevens' coaching credentials and the needs of the Devils.

The question then becomes, do the Devils need a coach who specifically brings offense, or can a combination of new players and assistant coaches be enough? General manager Lou Lamoriello will be the one to make this decision, which will have no small impact on the future of the Devils, not to mention Lamoriello's own job security. 

At the very least, it is an issue that Lamoriello will be deeply considering as he moves forward with the team's coaching search.

For: Stevens Knows as Well as Anyone What It Takes to Win as a Devil

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Scott Stevens sits on the bench during the 1995 Stanley Cup Red-White Alumni Game on March 7, 2015.

When I discussed Oates' candidacy for New Jersey's head-coaching vacancy on Friday, I noted that his role as an assistant coach for the Devils during their 2012 run to the Stanley Cup Final gave him an upper hand over outside candidates.

Under Lamoriello, the Devils have always been a unique organization, valuing a defense- and team-first mentality, while ultimately leaving a lot of power in Lamoriello's hands. For some players and coaches, this environment simply is not a good fit.

So, if Oates gets an upper hand for fitting in during the early 2010s, Stevens may deserve a massive boost for his time with the team, as few people have been a part of the New Jersey Devils for as long as he has. 

Stevens captained three Stanley Cup-winning teams in New Jersey, spent 13 years as a Devil and has now spent two-and-a-half seasons as a coach in New Jersey. His unique connection to the organization and to Lamoriello makes him both more qualified to become the Devils head coach and likely more attractive an option in Lamoriello's eyes.

Against: No Prior Experience as a Head Coach

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Scott Stevens and John MacLean at New Jersey's celebration of the 1995 Stanley Cup championship team. Would Stevens' first NHL head-coaching job be as much of a disaster as MacLean's?

Stevens' candidacy to be New Jersey's new head coach is somewhat similar to that of John MacLean's entering the 2010-11 season.

Like Stevens, MacLean was a long-time Devil who was generally well-liked and successful with the team.

Like Stevens, MacLean had spent multiple years coaching within the Devils organization before becoming a front-runner for the team's head-coaching position. However, MacLean had spent time both as an assistant for the New Jersey Devils and as the head coach of the team's AHL affiliate.

Like Stevens, MacLean had no prior experience as an NHL head coach.

MacLean was named head coach of the Devils in the summer of 2010, after which everything went haywire. New Jersey, a team with Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias and Martin Brodeur, went 9-22-2 under MacLean before he was mercifully relieved of his duties at the end of December.

This is the danger that a team that hires a head coach with no prior NHL head-coaching experience faces. Of course, every good coach was at one point inexperienced at the NHL level, but it is simply hard to know how a prospective coach will operate once in charge if he has never been in that position before.

Does Stevens' lack of experience mean he will not be New Jersey's new head coach? Not necessarily. But, it does mean that Lamoriello will be hesitant to put Stevens in charge permanently.

Conclusion: How Seriously Should the Devils Consider Stevens?

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The coaching trio of Stevens, Lamoriello and Oates stands behind the bench.

The two most talked about candidates for the Devils' vacant head-coaching position are likely Stevens and Oates, but neither man might be best for the job.

Stevens has done a tremendous job with what has been asked of him this season, but the step up from his current position may be too steep.

New Jersey needs a coach who can be relied upon to get goals out of a team with average (at best) offensive talent. Asking Stevens, a former defenseman with no NHL head-coaching experience, to be that person seems to not be in the best interest of the Devils.

If Lamoriello can keep Stevens around next season in a role similar to the one he has occupied this season, it would be a positive for the team. But, with external options like Dan Bylsma and Paul MacLean available, it seems unlikely that Stevens will become the Devils next head coach.