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Islanders Hire David Cunniff, Chad Kolarik To AHL Assistant Coach Roles

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The New York Islanders have rounded out their minor-league coaching staff, hiring David Cunniff and Chad Kolarik as assistant coaches for the Bridgeport Islanders per a team release. The duo will join recently named head coach Rocky Thompson at Bridgeport’s helm.

Both Cunniff and Kolarik have deep roots in minor-league hockey. Cunniff played through parts of three seasons in the AHL and five in the ECHL during the late-1990’s. He gained a reputation for bruising minutes, and racked up 168 penalty minutes in 62 games of the 1997-98 season at his peak. Cunniff retired at the age of 30, in the 2001-02 season, and quickly turned his sights towards a coaching career. He was hired as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Barons in the 2002-03 season, and continued on in the role for the next four seasons. He then moved on to eight seasons with the Worcester Sharks, four seasons with the Iowa Wild, one year with the Hartford Wolf Pack, and two seasons with the Utica Comets.

Cunniff’s journeyman career around AHL benches has taken him to just five postseasons over the last 22 years. He’s a stout defensively-minded coach, who should bring regiment to a Bridgeport lineup that struggled last season.

Cunniff will be complimented by rookie pro coach Kolarik. He has only appeared in one coaching season through his hockey career: an assistant coach role with the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks in 2021-22. Prior to then, Kolarik trekked through an international playing career. He began as a seventh-round pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, and turned towards an AHL career in the 2008-09 season. He scored 100 points in 152 games over his first three AHL seasons – enough to earn two NHL games with the 2009-10 Columbus Blue Jackets. He went without any scoring, and would continue through four more seasons as a full-time minor-leaguer, with just four more games – and one assist – in the NHL.

Kolarik opted to move to Sweden’s SHL in the 2013-14 season, kicking off a journey around European hockey. He spent two years in Sweden and one year in both Russia and Switzerland, before kicking off a three-year career in Germany’s DEL that ended with a league title. He finished his playing career with one year in Austria’s top league in the 2019-20 season. Kolarik will offer an offensive eye and rich playing experience

Pacific Notes: Woodcroft, Klingberg, Perry

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Although he failed to find a new role as a head coach in this summer’s coaching carousel, Jay Woodcroft will return to the NHL next season. According to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff, the Anaheim Ducks are expected to hire Woodcroft as an assistant coach to serve on Joel Quenneville’s staff.

It’ll be a few days before the Ducks formalize Woodcroft’s hire. His previous contract with the Edmonton Oilers runs through July 1st, so an announcement should be coming then. Woodcroft hasn’t coached in the NHL since the 2023-24 season, when he was fired as the Oilers’ head coach on November 12th.

As valuable as the Ducks likely perceive Woodcroft’s previous head coaching experience, they likely targeted him to help improve the team’s offense. The Toronto, Ontario native coached Edmonton to a 79-41-13 record in 133 games (64.3% win percentage), while the team finished eighth in GF/G at the end of the 2021-22 season, and first in the league during the 2022-23 season.

Other notes from the Pacific Division:

  • After a largely successful return to the NHL this past season with the Oilers, it doesn’t appear that defenseman John Klingberg will return to the team this summer. Speaking on the Chris Johnston Show, host Chris Johnston reported that Klingberg is likely to become an unrestricted free agent. That doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t return to Edmonton, but he may find more lucrative offers elsewhere. Although injuries limited his return during the regular season, Klingberg finished the postseason on a high note, scoring one goal and four points in 19 games with a +3 rating, averaging 19:08 of ice time per game.
  • Unlike Klingberg, the same doesn’t appear to be true regarding veteran Corey Perry. In today’s episode of Sportsnet’s Around the NHL with Elliotte Friedman, a segment on Sportsnet 590, Friedman shares that Perry and the Oilers are working towards a new deal. Assuming a relatively cheap deal for Perry, there’s little to lose for Edmonton. The 40-year-old veteran is coming off his 20th NHL season, scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 81 regular-season contests, with another 10 goals and 14 points in 22 postseason games.

Boston Bruins Hire Steve Spott As Assistant Coach

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The Boston Bruins have hired their third assistant coach for the 2025-26 NHL season, joining Chris Kelly and Jay Leach. The Bruins announced they’ve hired Steve Spott as their final assistant coach, and he’ll primarily work with the team’s power play.

Despite spending most of his adult life in varying roles for the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers and Kitchener Rangers, Spott didn’t join the professional ranks until the 2013-14 season, when he was named head coach of the Toronto Marlies. Spott coached the Marlies to a 45-25-2-4 record, a North Division title, and a Western Conference Final appearance. That one-year test as the Marlies head coach earned Spott a promotion to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ bench in the 2014-15 season as an assistant coach.

After two years with the Maple Leafs organization, Spott joined Pete DeBoer’s staff with the San Jose Sharks ahead of the 2015-16 season. The two had previously worked together in Kitchener and enjoyed success with the Sharks, reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2016. Unfortunately, the two were fired midway through the 2019-20 season after the Sharks got off to a 15-16-2 start.

It wouldn’t take long for either to find work, as Spott and DeBoer were both hired by the Vegas Golden Knights in their same roles a month later. Their time in Vegas was short-lived, and both were let go after the Golden Knights failed to make the playoffs in the 2021-22 season.

Continuing to work together, DeBoer brought Spott with him to the Dallas Stars for the 2022-23 NHL season. Spott and DeBoer led the Stars to three consecutive Western Conference Finals, but they did not reach the Stanley Cup Final. Dallas finished with a top-10 powerplay in two out of three years with Spott serving as the team’s primary powerplay coach.

Penguins Announce Multiple Coaching Hires

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have finalized their coaching staff under head coach Dan Muse. Pittsburgh announced that they’ve hired Todd Nelson, Nick Bonino, and Rich Clune as assistant coaches, and Troy Paquette as the team’s assistant video coach. 

In his second stint as an assistant coach at the NHL level, Nelson is arguably the most important of the hires. Serving as the head coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears for the last three years, Nelson will make the more than 200-mile move to western Pennsylvania. It’s difficult to find many faults during his time with the Bears, amassing an impressive 65.28% win percentage with a 141-53-12-10 record in 216 regular season games. His winning ways continued in the postseason, coaching the Bears to a 31-17-0 record in 48  (64.58%) postseason contests over the last three years, with back-to-back Calder Cup Final championships.

Bonino’s formal hire comes with little surprise. The Penguins announced on their Facebook page a few days ago that Bonino had officially retired from his professional playing career and would be joining the team’s bench for the 2025-26 campaign. Coupled with his time on the ice, the 2025-26 campaign will be his fourth with Pittsburgh.

Like Nelson and Bonino, the Penguins are also bringing in a former NHLer in Clune. The longtime veteran for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies began his coaching career shortly after retiring in 2022-23 as the Marlies’ development coach. He’s coming to Pittsburgh on the heels of his first coaching job in the NHL, serving as an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks on Greg Cronin’s bench last season.

Seattle Kraken Announce Assistant Coaching Hires

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The Seattle Kraken are no longer one of the few remaining teams with numerous vacancies on their coaching staff. The Kraken announced they’ve hired Aaron Schneekloth and Chris Taylor as assistant coaches, and Colin Zulianello as the team’s new goaltending coach.

Schneekloth’s hiring comes with little surprise, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman linked him to the Kraken’s assistant coaching vacancy a few days ago. Schneekloth was serving as the head coach of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, taking over as the main bench boss upon Greg Cronin’s departure after the 2022-23 campaign. He coached the Eagles to an 83-46-10-5 record over two years, guiding the team to become regular season champions of the Pacific Division and advancing to the Division Finals in the Calder Cup playoffs.

Unlike Schneekloth, Taylor won’t be a rookie coach at the NHL level. After spending eight years as the assistant coach and head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans, Taylor was hired by the New Jersey Devils as an assistant coach ahead of the 2020-21 season under then-head coach, Lindy Ruff. Taylor survived New Jersey’s transition from Ruff to Travis Green, and then from Green to Sheldon Keefe.

Ultimately, the Kraken decided to hire their next goaltending coach from within the organization. Zulianello has been in the same role for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds for the last three years. He had plenty of experience with Seattle’s current starting netminder, Joey Daccord, from the 2022-23 season, and aided in the Firebirds allowing fewer than 200 goals against in two out of his three years as the team’s goaltending coach.

Kraken Fire Coaches Dave Lowry And Steve Briere

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New Seattle Kraken head coach Lane Lambert is taking time to reevaluate the team’s coaching staff. As such, the Kraken have relieved assistant coach Dave Lowry and goalie coach Steve Briere of their duties with the club. It appears Seattle will retain Jessica Campbell and Bob Woods as assistant coaches, and will move forward looking to fill only two vacancies behind the bench. Both Lowry and Briere joined the Kraken in the 2022-23 season.

Briere moved to Seattle after serving seven seasons as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ goalie coach. He oversaw the most consistent stretch in Toronto’s net in recent memory, presiding over Frederik Andersen in all four of his full seasons as the Leafs’ starter. Andersen fell to injury and only played 24 games in the 2020-21 campaign, opening the door for Jack Campbell to win over the starting role. But after a breakout performance in his spot starts, Campbell quickly began to cede starts to Petr Mrazek, Erik Kallgren, and Joseph Woll in the 2021-22 season. The Maple Leafs let both Campbell and Briere walk to free agency in the following summer.

Briere has since supported Joey Daccord’s takeover of Seattle’s starting role. The Kraken were led by Martin Jones and Philipp Grubauer in Briere’s first season, but Daccord was able to overcome both veterans last year. He cemented his role with multiple strong performances, and finished the year with a stout 19-18-11 record and .916 save percentage. His save percentage slipped to a .906 this year, but he grew his record to 27-23-5, while appearing in seven games. Now, Daccord will look to play his first 60-game season under the guidance of a new coach.

Lowry’s path to Seattle was much less linear. He was once a prominent NHL winger who earned 19 seasons in the league on the back of hefty and physical hockey. En route to a career that spanned 1,084 games, Lowry spent time with the Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Florida Panthers, San Jose Sharks, and ultimately ended his career with the Calgary Flames. He stuck around Calgary in the years after retiring, and wound up as the head coach of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen in the 2008-09 season. In what was his first notable head coaching role, Lowry took a Hitmen roster led by Martin Jones to the WHL Championship, only to lose out to the Kelowna Rockets.

The run to a championship series earned Lowry a reunion with the Flames in the following year. He spent the next three seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Calgary, only to return to the WHL as the head coach of the Victoria Royals in 2012-13. Lowry was again a playoff mainstay in Victoria, though he wasn’t able to push the roster past the second round of the playoffs. He spent five years in Victoria, only to return to the NHL in 2017 for two seasons as an assistant with the Los Angeles Kings. Again finding little success, Lowry returned to the WHL to coach the 2019-20 Brandon Wheat Kings team that ultimately missed the postseason. He’s been back in the NHL ever since that missed performance.

Now, Lowry once again finds himself looking for new work. He’ll seemingly have NHL and WHL roles to choose from moving forward, with little more than personal preference guiding his preference for one league or the other. Lowry has been a prominent NHL name since the 1985 season, and should find ample work wherever he moves to next.

Photo courtesy of Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports

Canucks Hire Brett McLean, Scott Young As Assistant Coaches

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The Vancouver Canucks are nearing the finalization of their coaching staff for the 2025-26 NHL season. The organization announced that it has hired Brett McLean and Scott Young as assistant coaches, and confirmed a report from a few days ago, indicating that Kevin Dean would also be joining the staff.

McLean earns his first stint back in the NHL since his time as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Wild from 2020 to 2023. He’s spent the last two years serving as the head coach for the AHL’s Iowa Wild, managing a 54-74-10-6 record in 144 games.

Young is the only one of the trio who’s not an outside hire. He’s spent the last three years as the organization’s Director of Player Personnel, after joining Rick Tocchet’s staff during the 2022-23 campaign. Before his tenure in Vancouver, Young had served as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Director of Player Development, joining the team the year after Tocchet had departed in 2017.

Although the Canucks’ on-bench coaching staff is taking shape around Adam Foote, some non-bench coaches aren’t expected to return next season. According to Rob Williams of Daily Hive Vancouver, development coach Sergei Gonchar and video coach Dylan Crawford won’t be a part of Foote’s staff.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Gonchar join Tocchet’s staff with the Philadelphia Flyers in a similar role. The two have inconsistently coached together since the 2015-16 season in Pittsburgh, with Gonchar joining Tocchet upon his move to Vancouver in 2022-23.

Canucks Coaching Race Coming Down To Manny Malhotra, Adam Foote

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The Vancouver Canucks are nearing the final days of their search for a new head coach after Rick Tocchet opted to part ways with the club this summer. The race for next-man-up has come down to NHL assistant coach Adam Foote and AHL head coach Manny Malhotra, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK News. The report was seconded by Patrick Johnston of The Province on Bluesky.

No matter which candidate Vancouver chooses, these reports emphasize the club’s desire to promote an internal candidate rather than search externally. That sentiment can definitely be appreciated, after Vancouver hired Tocchet and Malhotra, promoted Jaroslav Svejkovsky to NHL assistant coach, and added two AHL assistant coaches all just one year ago.

Neither Malhotra nor Foote have had much work behind a pro bench. Malhotra’s coaching career started in an assistant role with Vancouver in 2017-18, just three years after he spent his final NHL games in Montreal. Malhotra served behind the Canucks bench for three years before moving back across Canada to join the Toronto Maple Leafs for four years of the same role. He returned last summer and inspired a strong push from the Abbotsford Canucks this season. With Malhotra at the helm, Abbotsford pushed to a 44-24-4 record – good for second in the AHL’s Western Conference. They’re set to take on the only Western Conference team to outperform them – the Colorado Eagles – in the AHL’s Pacific Division Finals. That playoff race might delay, or dictate, any incoming promotion for Malhotra, despite Johnston suggesting he was the slight favorite.

Foote finds himself in a spot that’d be familiar to Malhotra – currently fielding coaching offers after spending three years as a Vancouver assistant coach. The past three seasons have been the first of Foote’s pro coaching career, and come over 10 years after he retired from the NHL in 2010-11. Foote was a hard-nosed and calculated bruiser during his playing days. He pushed to two Stanley Cup wins and 142 games of playoff experience with the Colorado Avalanche from 1995 to 2004. Foote served a perennial top-four role and, while he never scored more than 31 points in a single season, his presence was simply imposing for the opposite team – evidence by his 1,534 penalty minutes in 1,154 career NHL games. He’s now a fundamental guard of the troops who would bring Cup-winning experience and 1,000 games of experience to Vancouver’s head coach role. Malhotra can’t claim either benefit, with 991 career NHL games and a 2000 Calder Cup win standing as his only pro championship.

No matter which candidate they land on, Vancouver seems destined to invest in a rookie head coach for the 2025-26 season. Their options range in playing and coaching expertise, but both have deep roots in the Canucks organization. That fact could keep the loser of the head coaching race in the organization as an NHL assistant, unless they find new options elsewhere.

Ducks Part Ways With Two Assistant Coaches

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Earlier today, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reported (Twitter links) that the Ducks were likely to make further changes to their coaching staff.  Those moves have now been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that they will not be retaining assistant coaches Brent Thompson and Rich Clune.

Thompson spent the last two seasons behind the bench in Anaheim, his first NHL stint in nearly a decade after spending a pair of years as an assistant with the Islanders.  In between, he had been a fixture at AHL Bridgeport, serving as their bench boss for nine years before being added to former head coach Greg Cronin’s staff with the team bringing in coaches known for player development.

As for Clune, this was his first season with the team and the first full year that he was an assistant coach.  His playing career came to an end back in 2022 with AHL Toronto and he remained with the organization for two seasons in a player development role while spending a part season as an assistant with the Marlies before getting a chance to work with an NHL franchise.

For the time being, at least, it appears that Anaheim’s other assistant coaches will remain on Joel Quenneville’s staff.  Tim Army was also hired last offseason for his second stint with the team after being an assistant in the first three years of the franchise’s existence.  Meanwhile, goalie coach Peter Budaj, who also joined the Ducks last summer for his first stint of being an NHL coach, appears to be safe as well.

Devils Part Ways With Multiple Coaches

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Following a first-round exit at the hands of Carolina, the Devils are making some changes to their coaching staff.  The team announced that the contracts of assistants Ryan McGill and Chris Taylor will not be renewed, nor will the deals of AHL Utica assistant coach David Cunniff and head video coach Jerry Dineen.  A search for their replacements has now started.

McGill has been behind an NHL bench each year since the 2017-18 campaign, spending five of those with Vegas and the last three with the Devils.  Additionally, he spent two years as an assistant in Calgary, making him one of the more experienced coaches to soon hit the open market.  His main responsibilities were to work with the team’s defense and penalty killing units.

As for Taylor, he spent the last five years as an assistant in New Jersey, his first taste of NHL coaching action after being the head coach at AHL Rochester for the three previous seasons, the team he played for at the end of his career.  His role was more of on the development side, working with their younger players.

Despite McGill and Taylor’s departures, there are still some holdovers on Sheldon Keefe’s staff.  Assistants Sergei Brylin and Jeremy Colliton were not listed among the list of non-renewals, nor was goalie coach Dave Rogalski.  With there already being two primary assistants on staff, it’s possible that the team opts to only fill one of the two positions and run with a leaner group moving forward.

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