USA Hockey has rounded out its coaching staff for next month’s 2026 World Championship in Switzerland, the organization announced Thursday. Former Sabres bench boss Don Granato was previously announced as the head coach in March as the Americans aim to win back-to-back gold medals at the event for the first time ever.
Joining Granato as assistants will be Canucks assistant Kevin Dean, Predators assistant Darby Hendrickson, Rangers assistant Ty Hennes and University of Michigan head coach Brandon Naurato. Sharks goaltending coach Thomas Speer is joining in the same role, while Predators video coach Lawrence Feloney and Islanders video coordinator Matt DeMado have also been added to the staff.
It’s a very similar group to the contingent that led the Americans to the promised land last season. Dean, Speer, and Feloney are all returnees, as are general manager Brett Peterson and assistant general manager Jeff Kealty.
Dean had no previous national team experience up until last year’s tournament, but they obviously liked what they saw, then under Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky. He’ll be primarily responsible for the defensemen and penalty kill, the same role he holds in Vancouver, although the Canucks had a league-worst 71.5% penalty kill success rate and ranked 29th in the league in shots against per game with 29.8 in Dean’s first season behind the bench there. He had previous stints with the Bruins (2017-22) and Blackhawks (2022-25) as an assistant.
In Nashville, Hendrickson is more of a roving assistant focused on player development. This marks his first national team appearance as a coach, although he scored 14 points in 44 World Championship games for the U.S. as a player in six tournaments (1996-2001) and also suited up for them at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Hennes returns to the United States bench after first serving as an assistant coach at the 2024 Worlds. The Americans went 5-1-1 in group play that year but were upset by the host Czechia in the quarterfinals. Hennes is coming off his first season with the Rangers, following Mike Sullivan to New York last summer after spending the previous three seasons under him as an assistant with the Penguins.
Naurato, one of the brighter coaching prospects in the sport, is 41 years old and just wrapped up his fourth season heading up the Wolverines’ bench. A former player development consultant with the Red Wings from 2018-21, he spent only one season at Michigan as an assistant before earning the promotion. During that time, he’s won a pair of Big 10 championships and got Michigan to its fourth Frozen Four in the last five years, although they’ve been bounced in the national semifinal each time.
How many management people does a post NHL season beer league need?
One more to screw in a lightbulb
God bless you Wilf. Your switch to Grapes has somehow taken your posting to a new level of babbling entertainment. Your hockey knowledge may be lacking, and your claim of once doing sports talk radio is an absolute gem of a tall tale, but you do it with epic enthusiasm, and for that you deserve kudos!