New Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill had his introductory press conference early on Tuesday. During interviews, he shared with media that the Blackhawks will retain Anders Sorensen as an assistant coach and Jimmy Waite as a goalie coach, per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio. Blashill also shared that Chicago has hired former NHL forward Michael Peca as an assistant coach. The team later confirmed Sorensen and Peca’s roles in a press release.
This news most notably captures the next step in Peca’s growing coaching career. The 51-year-old spent nine of his 14 pro seasons in New York – captaining the Buffalo Sabres for four seasons and New York Islanders for two. He returned to the Empire State after retiring from the NHL, and took up the mantle as the general manager and head coach of the Buffalo Jr. Sabres in 2011-12. Peca stayed in that role for eight years before deciding to return to the pros in the 2020-21 season. His first step was a Development Coach role with the Washington Capitals, but Peca moved to an assistant role with the AHL’s Rochester Americans in 2021-22. He spent two years with Rochester, then stepped up to an assistant role with the New York Rangers over the last two seasons. Now, Peca will take his coaching talents away from the East coast for the first time in his career by joining a budding coaching staff in Chicago.
Peca will join like company in Anders Sorensen, who spent the better part of a decade coaching dominant rosters around Chicago youth hockey. Sorensen intercut those AAA-coaching roles with four years as an assistant coach in the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier pro league, and joined the Blackhawks’ staff as a Development Coach in the 2014-15 season. He stuck in the role for four seasons before stepping up to an assistant role with the Rockford IceHogs in 2018-19. Sorensen was promoted to the head coach role two seasons later, then earned another promotion to the NHL head coaching role last year. He led the Blackhawks to a 17-30-9 record – but showed enough strength to earn an assistant coach role with Team Sweden at this year’s World Championship, and retain an assistant role in Chicago.
Through the mix of two assistant coaching hires, fans shouldn’t forget about the continued impact of former Blackhawks goaltender Jimmy Waite – who will retain his role through a third coaching change. Waite just wrapped up his 10th season as Chicago’s goaltending coach. His tenure started off with star Corey Crawford, and will continue a decade later with budding star Spencer Knight. Waite was originally drafted eighth-overall in the 1987 NHL Draft. He played in 106 games and 11 seasons in the NHL, and recorded a career-long .871 save percentage and 28-41-12 record. He also spent 233 games and eight seasons in the IHL, where he set a .909 save percentage. Waite will be in welcome company serving under Blashill – a former NCAA Division-1 goaltender who started his career as a goalie coach.