The Devils have added another new name to the mix for 2026-27 and beyond, and this one matters in the crease. Dan Stewart is in as the club’s new head goalie coach, stepping into a role that has been a sore spot for years and joining a staff that Sunny Mehta is reshaping around his own vision.
Stewart takes over for Dave Rogalski, who had been behind the Devils’ goaltending for the past five years. The change gives New Jersey a fresh voice in a department that has struggled to produce much progress, and it comes at a time when the big club’s net is still very much up for grabs.
The new goalie coach is an Ontario native who still lives there with his wife and four kids. His path started as a player, with time spent in London of the OHL during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons before he moved on to Saint Mary’s University in the CIAU, where he earned a business management degree. After college, he moved to Connecticut and launched Connecticut Crease elite goalie school, building on a model he had already been using part time while playing juniors.
That work led to coaching and consulting stops at Fairfield University in the ACHA, plus St. Lawrence University and Plattsburgh State University at the NCAA level.
Stewart also spent six seasons in the Blues organization, serving as goaltending development coach for St. Louis and goaltending coach for the Springfield Thunderbirds.
In that span, he worked with Joel Hofer, Colten Ellis, Malcolm Subban, Garret Sparks, and Charlie Lindgren.
Before that, Stewart was the goaltending coach for the Soo Greyhounds from 2016-17 through 2019-20, and he held the same title with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks men’s program from 2016 to 2020. While with the Greyhounds, he shared a staff with Stewart, Keefe and MacLean at different points, and the source notes, “Shoutout Joe Cirella.”
From the outside, the job is easy to describe and hard to define. The goalie coach has to keep the netminders mentally ready, mentally fresh and, in a likely three-goalie setup, fully aware of when their next start is coming. Jake Allen said this summer that he had no issue with that arrangement as long as the communication was clear.
There is at least one reason to like the hire: Stewart’s work with Hofer. Hofer, a fourth-round pick in 2018, has grown into the likely heir apparent to Binnington.
Last season he posted a .910 save percentage and 15 GSAx in 46 games, after starting 30 and 31 games in the previous two seasons. His only real step back came in 2024-25, when St.
Louis was “absolutely terrible.” Daws, who was drafted in the third round in 2020, is on a similar track, which makes Stewart a logical fit if the Devils want someone who can help shape a goalie into a No.
There’s also the simple fact that this is a replacement for someone who, by the source’s account, gave the organization nothing. Rogalski is gone, Stewart is in, and New Jersey has a new voice guiding its goalies at the NHL level.
And if there’s one thing hockey keeps teaching, it’s that goalie work can border on voodoo anyway. Maybe the skaters should just play better in front of them.
In Other News...
Devils Just Unveiled A Giveaway Fans Will Argue About All Season
The Devils have started laying out the 2026-27 promotional calendar, and the early read is exactly the kind of mix that tends to keep fans scanning the schedule all summer. The club grouped its dates into Theme Nights, Theme Nights & Giveaways, and Cultural Celebrations, giving supporters a sense of how broad the night-by-night experience will be once the season gets underway.
The giveaway list already has the sort of novelty item that will get people talking, with a Thanksgiving Week butter dish shaped like the Devils bench among the items on deck. It will have company, too, with a Luke Hughes bobblehead, a light-up LED stick and a military hat all part of the rollout, a reminder that the team is aiming for a little bit of everything when it comes to collecting a crowd and keeping the building engaged. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Just Put One Lingering Problem In Ted Donatos Hands
After Sunny Mehta took over as general manager, the Devils spent much of the offseason remaking their bench, keeping Sheldon Keefe in place while moving on from most of the rest of the coaching staff. Jeremy Colliton was gone after just one year, reportedly heading to a job outside hockey, and the latest addition came in Ted Donato, the former Harvard head coach who now steps into an assistant role with a clear lane to influence the power play.
It is the sort of hire that makes sense on paper for a team looking for cleaner structure and more production in key moments. Donatos background gives New Jersey a different voice behind the bench, and his assignment comes with real weight because the Devils need that special-teams unit to take a step forward. The broader staff overhaul has already changed the look of the organization, and now Donato is the one left to help solve one of the lingering issues. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Are Betting Big On One Fix To Their Biggest Problem
The Devils have made their intentions clear in goal, and the move centers on Nico Daws. After signing him to a new contract, New Jersey plans to keep Daws on the NHL roster and give him the lead role in a position group that has been in flux. General manager Sunny Mehta has already moved Jacob Markstrom, and the club is now sorting out the rest of its depth with Jake Allen and David Rittich in support.
There is also a longer view behind the immediate bet. The organization is counting on goalie coach Dan Stewart and Director of Goaltending Leo Luongo to help shape the group, while prospect Mikhail Yegorov continues his development with an eye on an NHL debut in 2028-29. For the Devils, the question is no longer whether they need stability in net, but whether this alignment finally gives them a path to it. [Read more 🡒]