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John Hynes

Front Office Notes: Bannister, Dubas, Hynes

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The St. Louis Blues have come to a list of finalists for their vacant head coach position, and Drew Bannister is reportedly among the bunch, shares Chris Pinkert of NHL.com. Bannister is St. Louis’ most recent coach, getting promoted from the AHL following Craig Berube’s dismissal in December.

It was the first NHL gig of Bannister’s coaching career and he made good work with it, leading the Blues to a surging 30-19-5 record. He brought the best out of the team’s special teams – improving the power-play from 8.4% to 23.2%, and the penalty-kill from 78.5% to 79.4%. But the push wasn’t enough to get St. Louis over a sub-.500 start to the year, with the team ultimately falling six points outside of a playoff spot.

Bannister previously served as the head coach for the Springfield Thunderbirds, St. Louis’ AHL affiliate. He found plenty of success in the minors, leading the Thunderbirds to two playoff appearances and even making the 2022 Calder Cup Final. That track record, and his early NHL success, could be enough to land Bannister an assistant coaching job on the Blues bench, even if he does miss out on the head role.

St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong shared with the media that the team will have a coach before June’s NHL Draft and that their list of candidates has been whittled to a, “very, very small number”. It will be just a little longer before a decision, though, with Armstrong adding that the team is still waiting on some candidates to finish their season.

Other notes from NHL management:

  • Kyle Dubas has been named an associate general manager for Team Canada’s World Championship roster (Twitter link). It will be the first time that Dubas has worked with Team Canada in his six-year career as an NHL GM. The decision was made by Team Canada’s general manager, Rick Nash, with input from Scott Salmond, Doug Armstrong, and Ryan Getzlaf. It’s an exciting announcement that, among many things, could show Canada’s focus on advanced statistics, as they bring in one of the most analytic-savvy GMs in the NHL.
  • Team USA general manager Bill Guerin has named John Hynes as the head coach for the World Championship (Twitter link). It’s Guerin’s second time recruiting Hynes this season, having also hired him into the head coaching role for the Minnesota Wild after the team fired Dean Evason. The duo will look to maintain their momentum with Team USA, after the Wild ranked as a top-15 team in record, goals-for, and goals-against under Hynes’ reign.

Minnesota Wild Fire Dean Evason, Name John Hynes Head Coach

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The Wild have relieved head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Bob Woods of their duties effective immediately, the team said in a statement Monday evening. Two hours later, they named former Devils and Predators bench boss John Hynes as their new head coach.

Wild GM Bill Guerin gave the following comment on the decision to part with Evason:

Dean did an excellent job during his tenure with the Minnesota Wild, especially as Head Coach of our team. I am very thankful for his hard work and dedication to our organization. I would also like to thank Bob for his hard work during his time as an Assistant Coach with the Wild. I wish Dean, Bob and their families all the best in the future.

Evason had been a member of the Wild organization since he was brought on as an assistant in 2018, while Woods joined the Wild bench one season prior. The 59-year-old Evason began his coaching career with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen as an assistant in 1998-99 after finishing out his playing career in Germany, working his way up the junior hockey ranks over the next handful of seasons. His first NHL job came courtesy of an assistant role with the Capitals immediately after the 2004-05 lockout, coaching Alex Ovechkin in his first seven NHL seasons.

After departing Washington in 2012, Evason spent the next several seasons working in the Predators organization as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. There, he helped guide more than a few future NHL stalwarts – namely Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Filip Forsberg, Calle Järnkrok, Viktor Arvidsson, and Kevin Fiala, among many others. After joining the Wild, he earned a promotion to head coach within two seasons when the Wild fired Bruce Boudreau late in the 2019-20 campaign.

Just a couple of years later, Evason had coached the Wild to their best season in franchise history. The 2021-22 campaign saw the Wild break the 50-win mark for the first time since their inception in 2000, nearly sitting atop the Central Division with 113 points. That was in an extremely tough group with the 119-point Stanley Cup champion Avalanche and the 109-point Blues, whom the Wild bowed out to in the first round of the playoffs. The Wild remain without a playoff series victory since the 2015 postseason and have not advanced to a Conference Final since the 2002-03 season.

So with the Wild now far out of the playoff picture with a 5-10-4 record, sitting bottom five in the league in both goals for and against, a change was necessary and expected. Injuries and goaltending have certainly played a factor in their poor play – captain Jared Spurgeon missed the first 13 games of the season, and Filip Gustavsson’s and Marc-André Fleury’s combined .878 SV% is near the bottom of the league.

They’ve likely been unlucky, too. The Wild have controlled a slim majority of scoring chances and a strong majority of high-danger chances during 5-on-5 play, a common theme for an organization that’s usually one of the more defensively stout in the league. But the culture around the team is evidently turning sour quickly, Kirill Kaprizov is on pace for a career-low 26 goals and has a team-worst -10 rating, and most of their depth defensemen have been significant liabilities. This roster is not all that different from the one that’s finished top-three in the Central Division for three straight seasons, and it’s certainly one that still has playoff aspirations.

Minnesota has not won since November 7 against the Islanders and is winless in seven straight.

Woods, who had worked on the Capitals’ bench with Evason briefly as an assistant in the early 2010s, is now on the open market after more than six seasons with the Wild. It’s unclear whether the Wild will opt to fill his vacancy.

Hynes, who was let go by the Predators after last season, is technically in the final season of his contract with Nashville. That means the Predators had to grant permission to their divisional rival to speak to their former head coach and that Hynes will be paid by both Minnesota and Nashville this season.

Now behind the bench of his third NHL franchise, he faces an uphill climb to get Minnesota back in the playoff picture. Hynes will suit up behind an NHL bench for a ninth consecutive season, as he was fired by the Devils and hired by Nashville midway through the 2019-20 campaign.

The Wild will certainly get a boost in the standings once Fleury and Gustavsson improve their play between the pipes, a likely scenario given their stellar performance last season. However, they again have the misfortune of being in quite a competitive division. The Avalanche and Stars occupy first and second place as expected powerhouses, while the Blues, Predators and Coyotes all sit at or above the .500 mark and, especially in Nashville’s case, have posted decent underlying numbers.

Hynes’ main job is simply to restore confidence in his group. This roster has the ability to play better – especially Kaprizov, who, despite the okay point production, has looked like a complete non-factor on some nights. The team also hopes a significant change behind the bench can boost their league-worst penalty kill, which is operating at just 66.7%. Penalty killing was an area of strength for Nashville last season, who finished tied for fourth in the NHL with an 82.6% success rate.

The Wild will be on the hook for the remainder of Evason’s contract, which runs through 2024-25 at just under $2MM per season.

The Athletic’s Michael Russo was the first to report the Hynes hire.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Rangers, Holl, Maple Leafs

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Already a day after his removal as the head coach of the Nashville Predators, John Hynes has plenty of interest from teams around the NHL. Per Mollie Walker of the New York Post, it appears that the New York Rangers have been given permission to interview Hynes for their head coaching vacancy.

The Rangers have already been heavily linked to Peter Laviolette, but with another veteran head coach now on the open market, it is only natural that the Rangers continue to do their due diligence. Having been a head coach in the NHL for the last nine seasons, Hynes fits the mold of an established coach that the Rangers appear to be after in their search.

In his first five years behind the bench of an NHL team, Hynes took the New Jersey Devils to a 150-159-45 record, appearing in the playoffs once during the 2017-18 season, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. After his ouster in New Jersey, Hynes was hired by the Predators prior to the 2019-20 season.

In his four seasons in Nashville, Hynes coached the Predators to the playoffs three times, losing in the first round each year. After all was said and done in Nashville, Hynes held a 134-95-18 record with the Predators.

Other notes:

  • In a report today from the Toronto Star, Kevin McGran reports that Justin Holl would like to return to the Toronto Maple Leafs next season. However, Holl’s agent, Brian Bartlett, recognizes that significant turnover is likely coming to the Maple Leafs’ roster this summer, and Holl could very well be an odd man out. Although providing good physical energy to Toronto’s bottom-four defensemen highlighted by his 139 blocks and 151 hits, Holl lacked mightily in the possession game with 28 takeaways compared to 56 giveaways.
  • Confirming last week that the General Manager of the St.Louis Blues, Doug Armstrong, did not have an out clause in his contract to join the Maple Leafs as General Manager, Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest reports that Toronto never asked the Blues for permission to speak with Armstrong. Today, the Maple Leafs found their head of the front office by hiring Brad Treliving.

Nashville Predators Officially Hire Andrew Brunette

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May 31: The wait seems inconsequential, as Brunette has been officially announced as the Predators’ new head coach.

May 30: The Nashville Predators have confirmed at least part of their widely reported coaching change, officially announcing that head coach John Hynes has been relieved of his duties with one year remaining on his contract. The team also announced that assistant coach Dan Lambert, who also had a one-year tenure left on his deal, will not be returning.

Somewhat interestingly, the team did not confirm today’s earlier reports that New Jersey Devils assistant coach Andrew Brunette was set to take over as Hynes’ replacement. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun now expects the official announcement to come tomorrow morning.

Lambert worked with the Predators’ forward group and power-play units for four seasons from 2019 to 2023. During Lambert’s tenure, the team achieved a power-play success rate of 19.5 percent, including a franchise record of 24.4 percent in the 2021-22 season. Incoming general manager Barry Trotz commended Lambert as a quality power-play coach and thanked him for his contributions, particularly during a season marked by roster changes.

Trotz also released an official statement on Hynes, who was fired after recording the second-highest point percentage by a head coach in franchise history:

John Hynes is a good man and a good hockey coach. He did an outstanding job after the trade deadline with our team, especially with our young players, and he is a well-prepared, hard-working coach who will continue to grow in the NHL. After our year-end meetings and some additional evaluation, it was time to change the voice and time to go in a different direction. On behalf of all of us at the Predators, we’d like to thank John for all his work here and wish him and his family all the best moving forward.

Team president and CEO John Henry also released a statement, thanking Hynes and Lambert for their work during a difficult time off-ice for the team and the city of Nashville.

I’d like to thank John, Dan and their families for all they did for the Predators and our community. We appreciate all their work during their respective tenures with us, helping our team push through so many difficulties that hit us all in 2020 – from the tornadoes to the pandemic and the Christmas morning explosion, they always had our team ready to serve the community. John and Dan also guided us to three playoff appearances and additionally ensured our team represented Smashville well in the 2022 NHL Stadium Series and in Bern and Prague in the 2023 NHL Global Series. We will always be grateful for their contributions.

Nashville Predators Expected To Fire John Hynes, Hire Andrew Brunette

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The Nashville Predators are making an unexpected change behind the bench. Per an initial report from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, Nashville has let go head coach John Hynes with a year left on his deal and is hiring former Florida Panthers interim head coach and current New Jersey Devils assistant Andrew Brunette.

Hynes was given a two-year extension from the Predators just over a calendar year ago. After selling at the trade deadline, Nashville went on a 12-9-2 run and nearly squeaked into the playoffs despite key injuries, finishing just three points outside and 10th in the Western Conference.

That, combined with the delayed timing into the offseason (Washington has already created and filled their head coaching vacancy after a weeks-long search), makes this a piece of news with very peculiar timing.

With Barry Trotz set to become the second general manager in franchise history this offseason, he evidently felt a change was necessary behind the bench. In doing so, he brings in a player he coached as a member of the Predators early on in the team’s lifespan – incidentally, Brunette scored the first regular-season goal in Nashville history.

Brunette does bring a varied experience to the Nashville bench, beginning his administrative career with the Minnesota Wild after retirement in 2012. With Minnesota, he served in four different roles (special assistant to the GM, assistant GM, assistant coach, and director of player personnel) in just seven seasons before joining the Panthers as an assistant coach.

He became the team’s interim head coach in October 2021 after Joel Quenneville resigned in response to the investigation into the Chicago Blackhawks’ mishandling of 2010 sexual assault allegations against then-video coach Brad Aldrich. His coaching performance down the stretch earned him a President’s Trophy and a nomination for the Jack Adams Award, but the interim tag was never removed, and Florida instead hired Paul Maurice the following offseason.

Brunette found a home for 2022-23 as an associate coach on the New Jersey Devils’ bench, largely entrusted with running the team’s power play, which ranked 13th in the league during the regular season. In February, Brunette was charged with driving under the influence while in South Florida during the league’s All-Star break.

He inherits a Nashville roster that, while imperfect, still boasts a mix of star power (Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Juuse Saros) and a healthy number of young players on the rise. Brunette’s hiring seems like a targeted move to try and generate more offense out of the team’s current core.

The decision puts Hynes in a tough spot, as many teams are already well down the road in their coaching searches and weren’t expecting him to become available. However, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple notes that Hynes could be a contender for the New York Rangers head coaching job, replacing the outgoing Gerard Gallant.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Nashville Predators Extend John Hynes

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May 19: Predators general manager David Poile officially announced a two-year contract extension for Hynes today.

May 18: After reaching the playoffs for the third time in as many years under John Hynes, the Nashville Predators faced some uncertainty at the Head Coach position, with John Hynes on an expiring contract that included a one-year team option. However, those concerns seem to be gone, as The Athletic’s Adam Vingan tweets that he believes the club has agreed to a multi-year extension with Hynes to keep him behind the bench in Nashville. The contract has yet to be officially confirmed, though that may be a topic of discussion when Hynes and General Manager David Poile meet the media on Thursday (link).

In three seasons under Hynes, Nashville has failed to miss the playoffs, but has also failed to win a playoff round. The team lost in the first round this year to the Colorado Avalanche and last year to the Carolina Hurricanes. The team also lost the qualifying round in the bubble in 2020 to the Arizona Coyotes. Despite the success, some had wondered if Hynes would be back with Nashville next season given the team’s failure to have playoff success in that time. Given those concerns, a multi-year extension when the team had the ability to exercise a one-year option, is all the more interesting.

Perhaps one of Hynes’ biggest strengths as a coach can be seen in his stars’ ability to elevate their game under him. There may be no better of an example of that than this year, where Filip Forsberg had a career high 84 points, 20 more than his previous career-high of 64, in just 69 games. A struggling Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen both rebounded this year, with Duchene hitting career-highs in goals, with 43 and points, with 86. Defenseman Roman Josi, already a superstar in his own right, shattered his previous career-high 65 points with 96 this year, a mark that was among the best seasons ever for a defenseman.

Turning back to Hynes’ days as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, he saw a rebuilding New Jersey Devils team to a playoff berth in 2017-18, which featured a Hart Trophy season from Taylor Hall, who had a career-best 93 points, a mark he has not been able to repeat since. Though he has yet to win a playoff series as a head coach, Hynes has proven that he is capable of getting the most out of his star players. The Predators are also, notably, a franchise that has several high-profile, star players, three of whom (Josi, Duchene, and Johansen) are signed to long-term contracts. Another of those stars, Forsberg, Nashville is in the process of trying to sign long-term.

This story will be updated as more details emerge on the expected extension. Hynes and Poile will address the media for their end-of-season availability Thursday morning.

West Notes: Gaudreau, Hynes, Perunovich

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The Flames are facing an interesting cap crunch for next season.  Matthew Tkachuk is owed a $9MM qualifying offer, Andrew Mangiapane’s 31 goals plus arbitration eligibility has him looking at a sizable raise, and top scorer Johnny Gaudreau is set to become an unrestricted free agent.  Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen tried to peg where Gaudreau’s price tag should be on his next deal, suggesting an $8.5MM AAV could be the right fit for him and Calgary which would represent a $1.75MM jump on his current cap hit.  The 28-year-old is in the middle of a career year that sees him with 101 points in 74 games but with only mild salary cap increases coming over the next couple of seasons, it’s possible that it limits Gaudreau’s leverage if he tries to aim closer to the $10MM mark.

More from the West:

  • Discussions on a new contract for Predators head coach John Hynes won’t begin until the season is over, reports Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link). Nashville has played to an 89-61-8 record since he took over partway through the 2019-20 season so there’s little reason to think a coaching change is on the horizon.  The Preds have a team option for next season which would likely be exercised if the two sides are unable to reach an agreement on a longer-term deal.
  • Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich has resumed skating, relays Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The youngster underwent wrist surgery in early March and is expected to be re-evaluated at the eight-week mark.  We’re still a little more than two weeks away from that point so he’s still a long way from being cleared to return to the lineup for the playoffs.  In 19 games this season, the rookie has six assists while averaging 15:27 of ice time per contest.

Snapshots: Nemeth, Fines, Boeser

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The New York Rangers have moved Patrik Nemeth to injured reserve, and Mollie Walker of the New York Post reports that it is believed to be due to lingering effects from COVID-19. Nemeth has not played since January 22, missing six games during his current absence. He dealt with a symptomatic bout of COVID in December.

The 30-year-old defenseman signed a three-year, $7.5MM contract last July and has suited up 38 times for the Rangers this season. Always known as a stay-at-home option, he has just two points during that time and is averaging just over 17 minutes a night. It is not clear when he will be ready to return to action and the team has not confirmed Walker’s report.

  • The NHL has handed out a pair of fines today, one to a player and one to a coach. Nashville Predators head coach John Hynes was fined $25K for “inappropriate conduct” following Tuesday’s game against the Washington Capitals. The league did not release any specifics about the incident, though there have been other fines handed out to coaches including Rod Brind’Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes and Rick Bowness of the Dallas Stars. While Hynes is out $25K, Calgary Flames forward Adam Ruzicka will have to pay $2,004.17 for his elbow on Kevin Shattenkirk last night. That is the maximum allowable by the current CBA based on Ruzicka’s salary.
  • Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff has added Brock Boeser to his board of trade targets, even wondering if the New Jersey Devils could be a fit for the Vancouver Canucks sniper. Notably, Boeser is due a $7.5MM qualifying offer this summer as a restricted free agent, a salary that outpaces his production from this season. Still, since Bruce Boudreau took over in Vancouver there has been a noticeable improvement from the sniper, including four goals and eight points in his last seven games.

Predators, Red Wings Announce COVID Protocol Absences

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The sweeping outbreaks of COVID-19 continue, this time with the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings. The Predators have announced that six players and six staff members have been placed in the COVID protocol. Mikael Granlund, Ryan Johansen, Matt Luff, Michael McCarron, Philip Tomasino, and Ben Harpur are now unavailable for the team, along with head coach John Hynes, assistants Dan Lambert and Todd Richards, and goaltending coach Ben Vanderklok.

For now, Nashville is still scheduled to take on the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff tweets that the team is preparing to make the necessary recalls from the AHL (including coaches) to play.

Not to be outdone, the Red Wings have announced that Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen have entered the protocol. Both players were in the lineup last night against the New York Islanders.

The Red Wings are scheduled to take on the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow, a game that was in doubt after yesterday’s postponement. That doubt has been cleared up, at least for now, as the Hurricanes did not have any further positive tests today. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the plan is for Carolina to play short two skaters, given how tight they are to the cap ceiling.

The NHL appears ready to push through these outbreaks as best they can, hoping to not disrupt the schedule for the entire league.

USA Hockey Announces Olympic Coaching Staff

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Now that the NHL has officially agreed to go to the 2022 Winter Olympics, work can start on selecting the rosters. Just a few hours after news broke about NHL participation, USA Hockey has introduced the full coaching staff that will travel to Beijing. It had already been announced that Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins will serve as head coach; he will be joined by John Hynes, David Quinn, Todd Reirden, and Ryan Miller.

The U.S. Olympic team general manager Stan Bowman released a statement on the staff:

We’ve got a great coaching staff in place. It’s a group that knows what it takes to be successful, and through their unique and varied backgrounds will help put our team in the best position to win the gold medal.

Hynes, who is also the head coach of the Nashville Predators, will serve as an assistant and was an obvious addition. He has a long track record with the program, including being part of gold medal-winning efforts at the U18 and U20 World Juniors. Hynes was the head coach of the 2016 World Championship squad, an assistant at the 2016 World Cup, and an assistant at the 2019 World Championship. He also spent several seasons as the head coach of the National Team Development Program.

Many of the same things could be said about Quinn, who will also serve as an assistant on Sullivan’s staff. He has been an assistant several times at the World Championship and was in the NTDP at the same time as Hynes. Quinn was previously head coach of the New York Rangers for three seasons and was an extremely successful college coach.

Reirden will bring a certain level of familiarity for Sullivan, given as he serves as an assistant with the Penguins already. He actually has not made an appearance coaching internationally in the past, which makes this appointment somewhat surprising. Not many coaches get a chance to step right into the Olympics, but that’s what Reirden, a Stanley Cup-winning assistant with the Washington Capitals, will do next spring.

Even more impressive is Miller, who not only is going to the Olympics as an assistant coach for the first time, but it is his first experience as a coach at any level. The veteran goaltender only announced his retirement earlier this year after a long, successful career that included two Olympic performances as a player. He won the silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and was named the most valuable player of the tournament.

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