Can John Hynes pull the Devils out of their swamp?

The New Jersey Devils hired John Hynes Tuesday, June 2, to take over bench duties. Hynes coached the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for five seasons, and at 40-years-old, is now the youngest coach in the league.

Obviously, the connections to the Pittsburgh Penguins organization continue, as recently hired general manager Ray Shero is familiar with Hynes. Additionally, the job was offered to Hynes alone, and while Shero did seek out and interview other coaching candidates, interestingly, the mission appeared to have been Hynes’ from the beginning, if he choose to accept it of course.

And what a mission Hynes has ahead of him.

Shero and Hynes are committed to being, “Fast. Attacking. Supportive.”

In Shero’s own words from the press conference Tuesday,

“When I talk about fast, I don’t mean skating around the ice fast. That’s part of it, but fast hockey is practice fast, think fast, execute fast, move the puck quickly.

“Attacking is being aggressive both offensively and defensively. Not giving the opposition a lot of room. That’s an identity. Attacking is not just thinking about scoring goals. It’s a mindset defensively that I share with the head coach here today.

“Supportive means five guys on the ice as a group trying to, as a group, do these things. Supportive is five guys in your defensive zone, five guys supporting the neutral zone. And if you can’t come out of your defensive zone in this league, you can talk all day about scoring goals and you’re not going to do it.”