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Nashville Predators Officially Name Dan Hinote As Assistant Coach

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As anticipated, the Nashville Predators have made the official announcement that former NHL forward Dan Hinote has joined the team as an assistant coach. Hinote has spent the past two season as an assistant with the U.S. National Team Development Program and ironically is set to replace Dan Muse on head coach John Hynes’ staff after Muse was named a head coach for the USNTDP. Hinote rounds out a staff that also includes Dan Lambert and Rob Scuderi. Hynes said of his new addition:

Hinote’s character, personality, as well as playing and coaching experience will be a great fit for our team and players. As a player, Dan brought energy and leadership to his teams, winning a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001, and his experience as a coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets and USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program will be of great value to our organization.

GM David Poile, who has always had a soft spot for the USNTDP, added his own support for Hinote’s hire, stating:

In this assistant coach position, we were looking for a former player who was fairly recently retired but still had coaching experience, and Dan fit that description perfectly. He builds strong connections with players – including Ryan Johansen in his time in Columbus – and has played with Predators alumni and Hall of Famers Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg in Colorado, as well as Predators Director of Player Development Scott Nichol, Preds broadcaster Chris Mason and Kariya again in St. Louis. Dan complements John and the rest of our current staff nicely, and I trust he will be a tremendous asset to the team.

As mentioned, prior to his time with the USNTDP Hinote spent eight seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, splitting his time between working as an assistant coach and a pro scout for the organization. Hinote joined Columbus immediately after retiring in 2010. While he spent his final playing season in Sweden, Hinote spent nine seasons in the NHL as a hard-working and intelligent two-way forward. He hopes to bring those same hallmarks to his position with the Predators and impart them on the players.

 

Pittsburgh Penguins Name J.D. Forrest As AHL Head Coach

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As the internal coaching carousel for the Pittsburgh Penguins continues, they have again opted to promote one of their own. Following the dismissal of Mike Sullivan’s entire staff- Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin, and Mark Recchi – the Penguins brought back Todd Reirden following his dismissal as head coach of the Washington Capitals and promoted AHL head coach Mike Vellucci. In need of a new head coach for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to replace Vellucci, the club announced today that assistant J.D. Forrest has been promoted to head coach. The team’s release also revealed that Assistant GM Jason Karmanos has been named the GM for the AHL Penguins. The new WBS GM had this to say about his new head coach:

J.D. has done an excellent job in his four seasons as an assistant coach in Wilkes-Barre, consistently demonstrating a strong ability to develop the young defensemen in our system. His familiarity with the organization, our prospects and the style of hockey we want to play, together with his work ethic and team-first approach, gives us confidence that he will excel in his new role as head coach.

Forrest, 39, has been with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton since the 2016-17 season, focusing on the team’s defensemen and the penalty kill. Prior to joining the Penguins, he was the head coach of Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian U-20 league and before that an inter assistant coach with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Forrest was a product of the USNTDP himself before playing four seasons at Boston College and nine pro seasons in the U.S., Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany. A well-traveled player and coach, especially fotr his young age, Forrest brings a broad array of experience to his first head coaching position at the pro level and could have a bright future ahead of him.

Bruce Cassidy Wins 2020 Jack Adams Award

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Bruce Cassidy is the winner of the 2020 Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in the NHL after leading the Boston Bruins to the league’s best regular season performance. Cassidy takes home the award over the other two finalists, John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers.

This decision may come as a surprise to many, given our poll on the subject had Cassidy in last place out of the three. The award is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters Association and is given to “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”

Cassidy received 37 first-place votes, with Vigneault and Tortorella receiving 32 and 28 respectively. Craig Berube of the St. Louis Blues and Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche rounded out the top-5.

Even though many expected a different outcome, there’s no denying how worthy Cassidy is of the award. Since taking control of the Bruins during the 2016-17 season, he has put up a 161-66-34 record in the regular season. He also led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final last year, though overall Cassidy actually has a losing record in the postseason as the head coach of Boston.

This marks the first Jack Adams win of Cassidy’s young career and the fourth overall for the Bruins franchise.

New Jersey Devils Hire Mark Recchi

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The New Jersey Devils have added another big name to their coaching staff, this time hiring Mark Recchi as an assistant. Recchi joins Lindy Ruff’s staff after he was recently let go by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald released a statement on his new coach:

We are extremely excited to add Mark to our coaching staff, where his experience as a player, coach, and in development will be invaluable. His work with the power play and managing personnel in Pittsburgh are skills that will benefit our group moving forward. Mark’s leadership, communication abilities, patience, and presence will be integral for the growth of our young core.

There are few people with more NHL playing experience than Recchi, who sits sixth all-time in games played with 1,652 regular season contests. The Hall of Fame forward won three Stanley Cups, including one at the age of 42 with the Boston Bruins in 2011. A coach with the Penguins since 2014, he was let go with Sergei Gonchar and Jacques Martin earlier this summer when Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford made sweeping changes to the coaching staff.

In New Jersey, he’ll join Ruff in a new journey, trying to bring the Devils back to relevance in the Eastern Conference. Once a powerhouse that won three Stanley Cups in less than a decade, the Devils have gone to the playoffs just once in the past eight seasons.

Washington Capitals Interview Mike Babcock, Gerard Gallant

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Reports surfaced a week ago that the Washington Capitals received permission to interview veteran coach Peter Laviolette for their open head coaching position. However with three big-name coaches available, many felt GM Brian MacLellan would also interview the other two, to fill the vacancy left after the team fired Todd Reirden.

Last night during Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Washington has already interviewed former Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock:

“Last week the reports got out that the Washington Capitals had permission to interview Peter Laviolette for their vacant head coaching job, this week it’s believed that they interviewed Toronto’s former head coach Mike Babcock,” Friedman said. “And he is a legitimate candidate for the position.”

Babcock certainly would provide the Capitals with a ton of experience. The 57-year-old coached the Anaheim Ducks for two seasons before taking on the Detroit Red Wings for 12 years, which included winning the Stanley Cup in 2008. He spent four and a half years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but failed to lead the team through a round of the playoffs. Throw in a sluggish start to the 2019-20 season and he was fired in November. He has a combined 351-173-133 regular season record.

However, it doesn’t end there as Friedman also noted later on in the segment that the Capitals have also interviewed former Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights’ head coach Gerard Gallant. The veteran coach coached each team for two full seasons each before getting fired in the middle of his third season with each team. However, he did win the Jack Adams award in 2018 in Vegas’ inaugural season when he took the expansion team to the Stanley Cup Finals. He was also the runner-up for the Jack Adams with Florida in 2016.

The Capitals are in a good position with so many veteran coaches available. The team, who has a history of hiring inexperienced coaches, has made it clear they are willing to bring in a coach with plenty of experience as the window for the team is starting to close. Star forward Alex Ovechkin will be turning 35 years old in 11 days and likely only has two to three years remaining at his peak and with little youth in the system, Washington will need a coach that can light a fire under them in the next few years.

West Notes: Markstrom, Bowness, Avalanche

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While we’re still a year away from the Kraken’s expansion draft, things are now at the point where that will start playing a role in the decision making for other teams.  In an appearance on Sportsnet 960 (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Seattle draft is playing a role in Vancouver’s discussions regarding pending UFA goalie Jacob Markstrom.  The Canucks have Thatcher Demko (who was terrific against Vegas over his three playoff starts) who will also need protection and with teams only being able to protect one, it’s something that GM Jim Benning will certainly have to factor in as whichever one isn’t protected becomes the immediate favorite to be taken.

More from the Western Conference:

  • While making it to the Western Conference Final would make it seem like a pretty safe bet that Stars interim coach Rick Bowness will be installed as the full-time bench boss, Matthew DeFranks notes that this isn’t necessarily the case. The 65-year-old indicated that he hasn’t given any thought yet regarding the idea of remaining in the role beyond the playoffs and that there is a meeting scheduled with GM Jim Nill to discuss his future whenever their postseason action comes to an end.
  • Had the Avalanche made it past Dallas, they wouldn’t have had any help on the horizon from the infirmary. Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater relays (Twitter link) that none of Colorado’s players were close to returning.  Their list of injuries by the end of the series included goaltenders Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz, defensemen Erik Johnson, and wingers Gabriel Landeskog and Joonas Donskoi, among others.  There’s no word yet on how long of a recovery time those players will be facing.

Marc Savard Will Not Return To Blues’ Coaching Staff

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The St. Louis Blues will be looking for a new assistant coach, announcing today that Marc Savard will not return to the team for next season. Savard will instead return to Ontario to be with his family after just one season behind the bench. Blues GM Doug Armstrong released a statement on the move:

Marc has decided to step away and will not coach in the National Hockey League in 2020-21. I want to thank Marc for his work with our coaches and players during his time in St. Louis and wish him nothing but the best.

Savard, 43, joined the Blues a little over a year ago as a powerplay coach and helped St. Louis to the third-best success rate with the man-advantage this season. A dynamic playmaker during his career, Savard was forced from the NHL due to chronic concussion issues in 2011 after scoring 706 points in 807 games.

This was his first stint as an NHL coach, but perhaps Savard will return down the road at some point.

East Notes: Schultz, MacLean, Pastrnak

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Jim Rutherford’s comments last month that singled out defenseman Justin Schultz certainly made it seem like the Penguins would be walking away from the pending UFA next season.  He put any possibility of a reunion to rest recently, confirming to Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that they won’t bring the veteran back:

We’ll move on from Justin.  He’s going to do better in the marketplace than what he can do here, based on our cap situation.

Schultz was quite productive in his first full season with the Penguins when he had 51 points in 78 games but he has had trouble staying healthy since then, suiting up in just 75 games over the last two seasons combined.  His production has tapered off in that time while he struggled defensively as well.  A change of scenery could certainly do the 30-year-old some good although he’ll certainly be looking at a big dip in pay from the $5.5MM cap hit he had this season.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Blue Jackets will be parting ways with assistant coach Paul MacLean, reports Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription required). He joined Columbus partway through this season with the hopes that he’d be able to help their power play.  However, losing several of their top forwards proved to be too much to overcome; while the team was slightly better with the man advantage after he joined them midseason, the gain was only incremental from 15.6% to 16.8% and overall, they finished in the bottom five in the league.  Things weren’t any better in the playoffs as their power play limped to just an 8.8% success rate.
  • Bruins winger David Pastrnak played through the postseason with a lingering lower-body injury that also played a role in his limited participation during training camp, relays NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty. Despite the injury, he was still productive in their series loss to Tampa Bay, picking up two goals and four assists in the five games.  Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated that he doesn’t believe that Pastrnak, or any of Boston’s other players that are banged up, will need surgery.

Dan Muse, Adam Nightingale Named NTDP Head Coaches

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Over the last few weeks USA Hockey had lost several coaches from their National Team Development Program to other positions in the hockey world, but today they’ve found some replacements. Dan Muse and Adam Nightingale have been named head coaches of the NTDP, heading up the U18 and U17 teams respectively.

Muse has served as an assistant coach for the Nashville Predators for the past three seasons after previously working as the head coach of the Chicago Steel of the USHL. Twice he was a video coach with USA Hockey at the U20 World Juniors and has plenty of experience as an assistant with Yale in the NCAA as well.

He’ll be joined by assistants Dan Hinote and Mike Leone behind the bench of the U18 team.

Nightingale meanwhile has worked with the Detroit Red Wings for the last several seasons, first as a video coach and then an assistant in 2019-20. He’s served as video coach for USA Hockey’s World Championship squad the last three years and was previously the Director of Hockey Operations at Michigan State University.

He’ll be joined by assistants Nick Fohr and Brent Darnell behind the bench of the U17 team.

Seth Appert and John Wroblewski, who previously held the positions, both took head coaching jobs in the AHL this summer.

Claude Julien Recovering, Will Return As Montreal Head Coach

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Though the Montreal Canadiens weren’t able to make it past the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs, some good news has still come out today. Claude Julien, who was taken to hospital a few weeks ago with chest pains and underwent a procedure to stent his coronary artery, has recovered and indicated he would have returned to Toronto’s bubble had the team won game six. Julien confirmed that he will be back as head coach of the Canadiens next season.

It is good news for a legendary coach who is approaching 700 regular season wins in his career. Julien won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011 and has an all-time record of 658-440-10-148 in the regular season. That’s good enough for 13th on the all-time wins list.

The Canadiens have work to do this offseason to get their roster ready for another playoff run, but it appears that head coach will not be one of the spots to fill. Julien is under contract through the 2021-22 season with Montreal.

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