The Columbus Blue Jackets have officially announced the promotion of Trent Vogelhuber, head coach of the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, to an assistant coaching role on Rick Bowness‘ NHL staff. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline previously reported the move would be made, covered in May.
According to Portzline, Vogelhuber “will work extensively with the Blue Jackets’ penalty kill” next season. Columbus’ penalty kill was fifth-worst in the NHL last season, killing penalties at a 76 percent rate. A year earlier, they were tenth-worst in the NHL with a 77 percent kill rate.
Vogelhuber will be tasked with turning around a penalty kill unit whose struggles extend beyond just this season, problems that have sustained themselves through multiple campaigns and several different coaching staffs. The Blue Jackets haven’t had an above-average penalty kill since 2019-20, routinely finishing in the bottom-10 or worse.
A native of Dublin, Ohio, Vogelhuber grew up in Central Ohio and had a four-year NCAA career at Miami University in the state. Injuries prematurely ended his professional career in 2017-18, but not before he won a Calder Cup with the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters, in 2015-16. He was a teammate of current NHLers Josh Anderson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Anton Forsberg, Joonas Korpisalo and Zach Werenski on that Monsters team. Werenski at the time was just starting his professional career after two seasons with the Michigan Wolverines, and his playoff run with the Monsters (where he scored 14 points in 17 games) would be the only AHL action he’d need before breaking into the NHL.
Now, Vogelhuber could get the chance to coach Werenski, who has emerged in trade rumors after blossoming into one of the game’s very best defensemen. Werenski took home the 2026 Norris Trophy, marking that growth. The 28-year-old is a do-it-all No. 1 and could be part of Vogelhuber’s penalty-kill rotation.
But while that championship run with the Monsters was just the start of Werenski’s career, it was the beginning of the end of Vogelhuber’s. He played in just 15 games the following campaign, and 2017-18 was his last as a player. He was hired as an assistant coach by the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate in Cleveland for the season following his retirement as a player.
Vogelhuber took over as head coach in Cleveland for the 2022-23 season after the departure of Mark Eaves. While Cleveland missed the playoffs in his debut campaign with a 33-32-7 record, Vogelhuber helped engineer a quick turnaround, and was able to lead the team to a 40-24-8 record the following campaign. Cleveland lost in a close seven-game Eastern Conference Final to the eventual champion Hershey Bears, dropping the final game in overtime.
Since his second season as head coach, Vogelhuber has maintained Cleveland’s status as a legitimate playoff team. They went 35-26-11 in 2024-25 and 37-26-9 in 2025-26. While a Calder Cup eluded him as head coach (the Monsters lost in the first round in 2024-25 and fell in dramatic fashion in the decisive game of this year’s North Division Finals) Vogelhuber has nonetheless done a fine job as head coach in Cleveland.
It’s also important to note that he has accomplished the other primary goal AHL coaches are tasked with beyond just winning games: delivering NHL players to their affiliate. Under his watch, players such as Jet Greaves, Denton Mateychuk, Jake Christiansen, Joshua Dunne, Gavin Brindley, and Daemon Hunt have developed into NHL players of varying caliber.
Veteran minor-pro coach Nick Bootland will take over Vogelhuber’s place leading the Cleveland bench. Bootland spent the last four seasons in an assistant coach role with the Hershey Bears, where he won two Calder Cup championships. Before that, Bootland oversaw 13 seasons with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings as head coach and Director of Hockey Operations.
