The New Jersey Devils announced Tuesday morning that they have hired former Abbotsford Canucks Head Coach Jeremy Colliton as their Associate coach.

New Jersey had their best season in franchise history last year, ending in Lindy Ruff’s runner-up finish for the Jack Adams Award. But as they fell further and further out of the playoff race this season, the Devils’ upper management decided to make a coaching change.

Former Vancouver Canucks head coach Travis Green was given the interim tag as the new Devils coach for the remaining 21 games of the season. Given Green’s 8-12-1 record during that stretch, they decided to move on from him. And just 15 days after he was relieved of his duties with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Devils appointed Sheldon Keefe as their newest head coach.

It came to the shock of many when Chek TV’s Rick Dhaliwal first reported that Colliton might not be returning to the Abbotsford Canucks. In his first two years with the Canucks, Colliton had back-to-back 40-25-7 seasons and brought the team past the preliminary rounds into the first round of the playoffs.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman would later join Donnie and Dhali and shined more light on the situation.

“I had heard that there were people contacting the Canucks or coaching circle was talking about their opening in Abbotsford. The Canucks came out with a statement saying there’s a contract offer on the table for Colliton,” Friedman said. “I think Colliton’s been talking to some NHL teams or has interest from NHL teams. I wonder about a team like San Jose, I wonder about Assistant positions.”

Colliton will return behind an NHL bench for the first time after his stint with the Chicago Blackhawks. He would spend three seasons in Chicago and finish with an 87-92-6 record for a poor Blackhawks team.

Manny Malholtra will succeed Colliton as the next head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks. Malholtra leaves Sheldon Keefe’s team of assistant coaches, where Colliton fills his role – an NHL version of trading places.