It has been just under a week since the New Jersey Devils hired Sheldon Keefe as their new head coach, but everyone already has an opinion on it. When you really think about it, he should be the perfect fit for this team. The Devils high-end talent should react well to what Sheldon Keefe does best.

One area that he may excel in is the power play. In fact, with guys like Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, and Dawson Mercer amongst others to work with, they could be a top-five group.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, with Keefe as the head coach, had a ton of talent as well. Guys like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander, and Morgan Rielly all made their power play special as well.

Keefe knows how to get the most out of great players. That will include hiring the right person to run this power play so it can take advantage of all the skills the team possesses.

During the regular season, the Maple Leafs had a 23.9 playoff percentage which was good for seventh in the NHL. New Jersey, on the other hand, finished 13th with a 22.4 percentage. That number doesn’t tell the whole story, though. They were first in December when Jack Hughes was healthy. In the second half, they mostly missed Hughes, but they went long stretches without a power play goal and fell to 13th.

With Keefe and his eventual new staff coming in, the Devils should be able to be a top-five group and keep it that way. If they do, making the playoffs shouldn’t be a problem for them.

New Jersey has too much offensive firepower to not be scoring on the power play with regularity. There is no reason that they can’t be one of the best in the league and Keefe is going to hire someone that will help them get there.

2-minute read

Strong thunderstorms are expected to head into North Jersey on Monday afternoon, bringing strong wind gusts, heavy rain that could cause flash flooding and even hail to cap Memorial Day weekend, forecasters said.

The worst of the storms will hit northeastern New Jersey around 4 p.m. and could last until 8 p.m., said John Murray, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

“There will be a localized flash flood threat throughout the region,” he said. “Some of the thunderstorms could have damaging wind gusts, and there will be a possibility of hail.”

There was a late morning lull between an early morning storm and the expected afternoon thunderstorms in North Jersey where the sun peaked through clouds and allowed some to get in a last dip in the pool before the holiday weekend was over.

When will the rain start? NJ weather forecast calls for stormy Memorial Day weekend

North Jersey rivers are not expected to flood, according to NWS forecasts. Hail could be as big as one-inch in diamater.

The storms will head in from the west with a cold front behind them pushing the humid air out of the region. The weather should settle down by late evening, Murray said.

Tuesday is expected to be mostly sunny with high temperatures in the low 80s.