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John Hynes Devils to be 'fast, attacking, supportive'

John Hynes Devils to be 'fast, attacking, supportive'

At the news conference introducing John Hynes as the new Devils head coach, new general manager Ray Shero said he wanted New Jersey to be “fast, attacking, supportive.”

And we’ve officially turned the page on the Lou Lamoriello years. I’m surprised Lou didn’t have some sort of electricity shocking device on Shero when he said those words.

As NJ.com notes, only Hynes and Shero were on the press conference dais. No Lou.

Hynes, the former coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins backed up his boss’s comments.

“The important thing of those words Ray used is not so much the systematic thing, but I think as an organization, the identity of our team, something our players understand clearly, how we’re going to play, what our identity is going to be, those things are important,” Hynes said.

As for Devils legendary HOF assistant coaches Adam Oates and Scott Stevens?

“John and I have talked a little bit about the makeup of his staff, but not very far,” Shero said. “We’ll certainly start working on this as of today and moving forward.”

The Devils had a rep under Lamoriello of being a tight defensive group, but really – did they ever have the personnel to score under him besides a few times?

In 2000-01, the year New Jersey lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final, New Jersey averaged 3.60 goals per-game. They finished second in the NHL in offense in 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

But really, with the rule changes, that’s a bit of a bygone era.

Shero via NJ.com.

"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."

 Exciting hockey with the Devils? No way! It’s a new day in New Jersey, and maybe Hynes will have more job security than past Devils coaches, who seemed to get changed out every week.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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