Brunette Named Devils Associate Coach | RELEASE

The New Jersey Devils today officially named Andrew Brunette as an associate coach to join head coach Lindy Ruff's staff. The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald.
Brunette, 48, completed his first stint as an NHL head coach in an interim role with the Florida Panthers last season. He led Florida to its eighth postseason berth all-time and the team's 58 regular-season wins were the most in franchise history. Brunette also helped the Panthers advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign. Additionally, the rookie head coach was nominated for the 2021-22 Jack Adams Award and finished in second place with 31 first-place votes.
Before the 2021-22 season, Brunette served as an assistant coach for Florida dating to 2019-20, and the team advanced to the playoffs in all three seasons. The former forward's first year behind the bench at the NHL level was in 2015-16 in an assistant coach role with Minnesota. He spent seven seasons (2012-13 to 2018-19) with the Wild, after his playing career, in various coaching and management roles.

A native of Sudbury, Ont., Brunette was selected by Washington in the seventh round, 174th overall, in the 1993 NHL Draft. The left-handed shot totaled 733 career NHL points (268g-465a) in 1,110 regular-season contests in parts of 16 seasons from 1995-96 to 2011-12. Brunette spent the majority of his career with Minnesota (489 GP), but also skated for Colorado (246), Atlanta (158), Chicago (78), Nashville (77) and Washington (62). Brunette appeared in five different postseasons and earned 35 points (17g-18a) in 35 career playoff games. He then retired from the NHL after skating in his final season with Chicago in 2011-12.
Fitzgerald's relationship with Brunette dates to 1998-99 when they were teammates on the expansion Nashville Predators for one season.