Photo: Katie Free
Columbus Blue Jackets Named Trent Vogelhuber As an assistant coach for an NHL club and hired Nick Butland Replaced Vogel Huber as head coach of the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
Vogelhuber served as the Monsters’ head coach for four seasons, leading the team to a 145-108-21-14 record (.564) in 288 games. Cleveland has made the Calder Cup playoffs each of the past three years, winning the North Division title in 2023-24 and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals that spring. He also serves as coach for the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic.
Vogelhuber, 37, was promoted to head coach after four seasons as an assistant in Cleveland. Vogelhuber was born in the Cleveland area and grew up in the Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio, becoming the first native drafted by the Blue Jackets in 2007. He played six professional seasons, including 267 games in the AHL, and served as an alternate captain when the Monsters won the Calder Cup in 2015-16.
Butland, 47, spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Hershey Bears before joining the Blue Jackets, helping the team win Calder Cup championships in 2023 and 2024.
This is Butland’s first head coaching position at the AHL level. Previously, he spent 14 years as head coach and director of hockey operations with the Kalamazoo Wings of the United Hockey League (2008-09) and ECHL (2009-22).
Butland was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the ninth round of the 1996 NHL Draft and played 10 seasons of professional hockey, including 329 AHL games with Hershey (1998-2001, 2002-03) and the Cleveland Barons (2001-05).
