The best news John MacLean received this summer was getting hired to coach the Devils.
However, the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk today ranks a close second.
“I have a smile on my face,” MacLean told The Star-Ledger.
Now it will be MacLean’s job to fit a talented individual into the Devils’ team concept.
“We all know that, even looking at him on another team, that he’s an exceptional talent,” MacLean said. “As I’ve stated before, I have not heard from anybody throughout the organization a bad word about him. He’s a tremendous teammate and addition. He’ll have no issuses playing for the team.
“Hew signed here for a reason, to try to win a championship. This organization has a good history of that, so you know he wants to be part of the team. That’s what I’m excited about.”