The New Jersey Devils have named Sergei Brylin assistant coach for the upcoming season, promoting him from his minor league position. The long-time NHL forward has spent his entire coaching career with the Devils organization to this point, joining the Albany Devils in 2012 as a consultant and working his way up.
That wasn’t his first time with the team though, as Brylin spent all 13 seasons as a player with New Jersey, suiting up 765 times and winning the Stanley Cup on three different occasions. His rise to the coaching staff could have been predicted quite some time ago, though it will finally happen for the hardworking assistant.
Brylin joins Lindy Ruff’s staff alongside Andrew Brunette, Ryan McGill, Chris Taylor, and Dave Rogalski for 2022-23, a season that the head coach has already called a must-win. The Devils’ goal is now to make the playoffs, after turning the corner on their years-long rebuild. The team has made the postseason just once in the last ten years and actually saw their points percentage drop to a modern low of .384 in 2021-22. It’s time to turn that around, and Brylin will try to help as much as he can from the assistant position.
Still gotta respect the Brylin Madden Pandolfo line to this day.
Noice.