Last week I introduced Ted Donato, and today I wanted to touch on the other skater group bench coach, AJ MacLean who joins the Devils after a successful run in the OHL and AHL.

Background and Playing Career

MacLean, 42, was born on August 31, 1983, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and is the son of former NHL head coach Paul MacLean. He stayed close to home for juniors, playing in the QMJHL for Halifax from 2000-01 to 2002-03. Undrafted, he bounced around some of the lower level minor leagues over 6 seasons in the UHL, ECHL, CHL and IHL and ended his playing career in the United Kingdom’s EIHL. For Dundee he was named was named captain and a player/assistant coach for his final two seasons playing in 2011-12 and 2012-13. He must’ve said you are my fire about coaching because he hasn’t looked back since.

After his final year in Dundee as player-coach, he joined the Soo Greyhouynds with Keefe in 2013-14 (fun fact: Joe Cirella was also on that coaching staff). After 2 years at the Soo, he moved up with Keefe and Dubas to the Toronto Marlies, coaching for 8 seasons where they won three North Division championships and the Calder Cup in 2018. After Keefe moved up to the Leafs, MacLean eventually moved on to the Syracuse Crunch in 2023-24 where they clinched playoff berth in all three seasons during MacLean’s tenure. As a Lightning affiliate he oversaw the development of multiple players that became contributors to Tampa Bay, especially in 2025-26 when they were ravaged with injuries. The one desire left was to move up to the NHL, where he will join Keefe and the Devils on the bench for 2026-27.

I am still a little unsure who will be doing what for the Devils as both Donato and MacLean have had various roles as coaches – but I assume one will be more of a generalist and one will be more focused on the forwards and powerplay. According to MacLean’s LinkedIn he oversaw the powerplay as a Marlies assistant and from what I can gather helped build up the Crunch powerplay over his three years, helping them go from bottom of the league to 5th over 3 seasons. While with the Marlies, the powerplay he guided was consistently top 10, finishing 4th and 2nd in his past two seasons. Regardless of who does handle various responsibilities, believe me when I say, we have an upgraded bench.

The other interesting dynamic at play is for Sheldon Keefe. I don’t totally buy into the fact that he was under the thumb of XGMTF, but I do think there was a modicum of pressure coming down on him to play a certain way and I am not entirely certain how much influence he had over the additions of Colliton and Shaw. However, with the add of MacLean, Keefe is certainly saying “I want it that way” for 26-27.

Tell me why you like or don’t like this move in the comments!