Daniel Amoia
When New Jersey Devils‘ general manager Sunny Mehta pretty quickly let go of goaltending coach Dave Rogalski, and subsequently Jacob Markstrom, it was an indication that status quo would no longer be acceptable.
Today, the Devils announced that Dan Stewart would become Rogalski’s replacement as goaltending coach. They also named Leo Luongo Director of Goaltending, plus Ted Donato and AJ MacLean as assistant coaches. This now means head coach Sheldon Keefe’s coaching staff is complete.
Dan Stewart, Goaltending Coach
Stewart spent each of the last six seasons with the St. Louis Blues organization, where he served as both the team’s Goaltending Development Coach and the Goaltending Coach for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
As the Devils mentioned in their press release, “his development work, while with Springfield, included working with current and former NHL netminders Joel Hofer, Colten Ellis, Malcolm Subban, Garret Sparks, and Charlie Lindgren.”
Leo Luongo, Director of Goaltending
Luongo, the younger brother of Hall-of-Fame goaltender, Roberto Luongo, was previously the Florida Panthers’ goaltending development coach in 2020-21, where he aided Sergei Bobrovsky in a strong year and helped Chris Driedger put together a breakout performance. He then graduated to the Director of Player development, and then to Director of Goaltending for the Charlotte Checkers, Florida’s AHL affiliate.
NJHN included Stewart among its top three candidates to replace Rogalski back in May, pointing to his extensive résumé and previous success alongside Mehta during their time with the Panthers.
Ted Donato, Assistant Coach
The name ‘Ted Donato’ is almost synonymous with ‘College Hockey’. During his 22 years as head coach of Harvard University, Donato picked up 334 wins and led them to various accolades, including eight NCAA Tournament appearances, a Frozen Four berth, a Beanpot title, and four ECAC Hockey titles.
The 57-year-old Donato played parts of 13 NHL seasons, accumulating 347 career points from 1991-92 to 2003-04.
AJ MacLean, Assistant Coach
Familiarity helps — and that’s what the Devils are getting with MacLean, who previously worked alongside Keefe for two seasons in the OHL (Soo) and five more in the AHL (Toronto). MacLean most recently spent the last three seasons as Assistant Coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning AHL affiliate, Syracuse Crunch. They made the playoffs all three seasons of his tenure there.
AJ — son of former NHL head coach Paul MacLean — has publicly praised Keefe’s ability to resonate with players. In a 2019 interview with The Athletic, MacLean said, “…[The players] really want to get better because us as a staff really want to see every player reach their potential. And it all starts with [Keefe].”
As we saw in Florida, it takes a village to build a contender. Every single member of the organization helps play a role — and there’s no question Mehta had a thorough evaluation process before landing on these four additions.
