With the NHL season entering its final stage, teams that have already hit the golf courses are also finalizing their off-season plans. For two teams that needed head coaches have reportedly signed their new leaders.
First up are the Washington Capitals. They have gone with the new, new hire as they named Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach, Spencer Carbery, as the replacement for Peter Laviolette behind the bench. The 41-year-old [yes, it’s depressing when the head coaches are younger than you are..JG] began his coaching career in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays and was named the coach of the year for the league in 2013-14.
He has also been the head coach for the Saginaw Spirit (one of his players was former Lightning prospect Mitchell Stephens), the Providence Bruins, and the Hershey Bears before spending the last two seasons with the Leafs. One of his specialties is running the power play, something that will likely work out well since he’ll have a kid by the name of Alex Ovechkin on at least one of his new power play units.
Next up are the Nashville Predators. They dug into their history and have reportedly hired Andrew Brunette, who scored the first goal in franchise history, to replace John Hynes.
Hynes and assistant coach Dan Lambert were somewhat surprisingly relieved of their duties on Tuesday with the announcement of Brunette’s hiring expected later today. Despite a record of 134-96-18 in three seasons, Hynes will be looking for a job this summer as incoming general manager Barry Trotz looks to put his stamp on the organization.
Brunette was an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils this past season after himself being the victim of an unexpected firing (or non-extending of an interim job) the season before as he led the Florida Panthers to regular season glory with 51 wins and 108 points (before they were swept by the Lightning in the second round of the playoffs).
Jeffrey Middleton
With the hiring of these two gentlemen, four teams (for now) remain without a head coach: the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Columbus Blue Jackets, and New York Rangers.
Lightning / NHL News
A future star who got away, is now back in Stanley Cup Final [Tampa Bay Times]
While this is about Carter Verhaeghe, it could also be about Jonathan Marchessault. Both were young players in the Lightning organization that couldn’t break into Tampa Bay’s line-up but found the grass was greener in other organizations.
Nikita Kucherov selling South Tampa house [Creative Loafing]
Not a bad return on investment. After purchasing the five-bedroom, six-bathroom, 5,668-square-foot in 2017 for $1,995,000 he has it listed for $3,699,999.
Toronto close to hiring Brad Treliving [Darren Dreger]
The Leafs are moving on from the Kyle Dubas Era and will be hiring a GM that is known for pulling off a big trade or two. Will he have the stones to do what Dubas [who I’ve heard may have visited Western Pennsylvania recently] couldn’t – break up the Core Four? Should be an interesting summer.
The man behind the Chicago Wolves logo passed away [Chicago Wolves]
The artist who created one of the coolest logos in hockey, Andy Hryniewicz, recently passed away in South Carolina. In his honor, the Wolves posted the story of how that logo was created.
