Sign in Subscribe
Front Page

Quick Strikes: Ex-Bolt JP Cote hired by the Sharks

The former defenseman will be a pro scout for the San Jose organization

The Bolts

Tampa Bay Lightning players Louis Domingue, Yanni Gourde, and Gabriel Dumont will be joining Lightning prospects Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Barré-Boulet (as well as a host of other friends like Jonathan Marchessault, Jonathan Drouin, Mark Barberio, and Pierre-Cédric Labrie) in Quebec City for Le Boot Camp next weekend. The annual tournament that benefits children in the city is co-run by former TampaCuse goalie Cédrick Desjardins and will run August 10th, 11th, and 12th. [Le Boot Camp]

Speaking of Gourde, it was his turn for the Lightning’s on-going online “In their own words” feature. [Tampa Bay Lightning]

Life has changed, but we’re all doing pretty well. Marie is awesome. She’s taking care of the baby a lot so that I can go through my regular offseason routine. I’m going through a similar routine to the past few offseasons like working out and trying to get my body ready for camp, so I’m really focused on that. Once, I get home, that’s the moment I take care of the baby. It’s amazing.

Fans looking to start buying single-game tickets for the Lightning are in luck: They go on sale on August 10th!

Want to be more than a fan? The Lightning will be holding auditions for their Bolt Brigade at the end of the month:

The Prospects

The Syracuse Crunch was out in the community yesterday, hanging out with the next generation of hockey players and fans.

Speaking of the future, Lightning prospect and future Crunch player Boris Katchouk was the subject of yesterday’s Top 25 Under 25. [Raw Charge]

Going into the 2017-18 season, Katchouk’s biggest assignments were to work on his size and his production. His production increased, and so did his size, up to 205 lbs from last season’s 190. This increase in size aided the physicality of his play last season, exhibited in the most explosive goal of his season — Team Canada’s very first goal in the U-20 tournament, where he created a goal controversy by crashing the net.

Prospect Taylor Raddysh had his mic’d up experience from prospect camp posted yesterday:

The Game

Former Lightning and Crunch defenseman JP Cote has been hired by the San Jose Sharks as a pro scout. [San Jose Sharks]

JP Cote has been hired to the position of pro scout and will scout the East. Cote, 36, played professional hockey since the 2003-04 season, skating for various clubs in the NHL, AHL, ECHL and International leagues. Cote appeared in 27 NHL contests, earning four assists with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens. He was initially selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the ninth round (265th overall) in the 2000 NHL Draft.

Cote announced his retirement from professional hockey a few hours before the announcement of his hiring went out. He served as an instructor at the Lightning’s prospect camp this summer.

The New York Rangers re-signed restricted free agent Ryan Spooner yesterday, completing their RFA signings list.

Former organizational forward Trevor Smith has signed on with the San Antonio Rampage, AHL club for the St. Louis Blues, for 2018-19.  [San Antonio Rampage]

Smith was a member of the historic 2011-12 Norfolk Admirals squad that capture the Calder Cup. The Admirals went 15-3 en route to their first AHL championship after posting a professional hockey record 28-game winning streak during the regular season.

Smith has collected nine goals and 20 points in 107 career NHL contests with the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Nashville Predators.

A new episode of From the Press Box went out yesterday. [AHL Report]

In this week’s episode, hosts Rick Stephens and Amy Johnson kick things off with a brief look at the start of the 2018 World Junior Showcase and the results of the first two games of the camp. Then the duo will move to AHL news and discuss some more coaching movement as well as review new roster signings around the league from the past week.

There’s one more day left in the The Sin Bin’s logo tournament! [The Sin Bin]

The Adirondack Thunder, who we are assuming is still the Crunch’s unofficial ECHL club until we’re told otherwise, is starting their own podcast.

Someone in the AHL’s communications department clearly has their priorities all sorted.

AHL teams are starting to announce their pre-season games, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was next up yesterday. [Chirps from Center Ice]

The Toronto Furies announced that Courtney Kessel will be the team’s head coach for the 2018-19 CWHL season. [The Ice Garden]

Although Kessel’s playing career has just ended, she already has substantial coaching experience. Last year she coached Canada’s U-22 Development team and was head coach at Havergal College in Toronto (an independent boarding school). She also has experience as a skills instructor.

Read next

Comments ()