A veteran coach is returning to an NHL bench. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Don Granato will be joining the Blue Jackets as an assistant coach. Granato has parts of eight years of experience as a coach in the NHL, including parts of two years running the show in Buffalo. On top of that, Granato has extensive experience coaching at the lower levels and most recently served as the head coach for Team USA’s entry at the World Championship back in May. He’ll join Trent Vogelhuber and Jared Boll as the other assistants as Rick Bowness gets set to begin his first full year behind the bench in Columbus.
Other coaching news from around the NHL:
- Last night, the Golden Knights announced that they’ve hired long-time NHL forward Mark Letestu as an assistant coach. This will be his first opportunity to coach at the top level. Letestu spent four seasons as an assistant coach with AHL Cleveland before taking over AHL Colorado last season, leading the Eagles to a 41-20-11 record and a trip to the Western Conference Final. As a player, Letestu played in parts of 11 NHL seasons with four different teams, picking up 93 goals and 117 assists in 567 games.
- Still with the Golden Knights, assistant coach Dominique Ducharme has signed a three-year deal to remain with the team, relays Guillaume Lefrancois of La Presse. His contract was set to expire today and he had suggested previously that he might want to see what options were available on the open market. Ducharme has been with Vegas as an assistant for the last three years and also spent parts of four seasons in Montreal as an assistant or head coach.
