Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
As usual, head coaching changes are happening in the NHL this summer.
NHL organizations have a long history of scouting for AHL coaching talent. As of the end of the 2025-26 season, there are 21 NHL clubs led by former AHL head coaches. List includes Tampa Bay’s last two Jack Adams Award winners Jon Cooper and Washington’s Spencer CarberryThe two also won the Louis AR Pieri Coach of the Year Award during their time in the AHL.
Now, with less than a month until the offseason begins, 10 more AHL head coaches have landed NHL gigs. Two of those promotions were to NHL head coaching positions.
Vancouver Canucks advance Manny Malhotra Departs Abbotsford on June 1st. He won a Calder Trophy with Abbotsford as a rookie head coach in 2025 and oversaw the development of no fewer than 11 rookies who skated in Vancouver last season.
Come September, Vancouver’s coaching staff will have a strong AHL feel to it. Ryan MognellThe 2025-26 Pieri Award winner will join former Abbotsford assistant as Malhotra’s assistant Jordan Smith. Mugenell’s Providence Bruins hold the AHL’s best record over the past five seasons with a 217-103-26-14 record (.658).
Ryan Craig Craig also received his first NHL head coaching job on June 17 after the Vegas Golden Knights promoted him out of Henderson. Craig will come to T-Mobile Arena with a well-built resume, having been promoted straight from the ice to assistant coach with the Golden Knights in 2017 before serving as head coach with the Silver Knights for three seasons. All of this backup experience came during a career that included 198 NHL games and 711 AHL games, and he captained the Lake Erie Monsters to the Calder Cup in 2016. Mark LightstuAfter reaching the conference finals in his first season as head coach of the Colorado Eagles, he was hired as an assistant on Craig’s staff.
Trent VogelhuberCraig’s teammates in Cleveland also joined the NHL. Ohio-born Vogelhuber will move from the Monsters to parent club Columbus Blue Jackets as an assistant coach; he won a division title with Cleveland in 2023-24, reached the Eastern Conference Finals that spring and led the Monsters to the playoffs three times in his four seasons.
John Gruden Promoted to a position on Toronto Maple Leafs’ new head coach’s staff Jim ShearerReturned to the NHL after serving as head coach of the Toronto Marlies for three seasons. Gruden served as an assistant coach with the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins, leading the Marlies to a 107-75, 19-15 (.574) record and a Calder Cup championship in 2026.
Matt McIlwain After three seasons as head coach of the San Diego Gulls, he headed east to join Boston as an assistant coach. He will work with Bruins head coach Marco SturmMcElwain’s former Pacific Division rival from Sturm’s time in Ontario. The two also worked together during the 2018 Olympics, helping Germany win the silver medal.
Also returning to the NHL are Greg Cronin, Rocky Thompson and Pascal Vincent. Cronin was hired as an assistant coach by the St. Louis Blues along with the former Rochester American assistant coach Vinny Prospalafter leading the Iowa Wild in 2025-26. Thompson was promoted to the New York Islanders after leading Bridgeport to the Calder Cup playoffs last season. Vincent, a two-time Pierie Award winner, is now an assistant coach with the Seattle Kraken after spending two seasons as head coach of the Laval Rocket, where he won back-to-back division titles.
Four long-time NHL players took key steps in their coaching careers this AHL offseason. Joel Ward And his 726 games of NHL experience will replace Craig with Henderson. Ward, who spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the Golden Knights, returns to Henderson where he began his coaching career as an assistant. Jay McGee After nine seasons as head coach of the Ontario Hockey League, he will take over the reins of the New York Islanders’ new AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Hammers. Steve SullivanA Calder Cup winner with Albany before skating more than 1,000 games in the NHL, he returned to the Marlies as head coach and Steve Ott After taking over as head coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds on an interim basis in January, he signed a two-year contract extension with the team to continue as head coach.
Other first-time AHL head coaches heading into the 2026-27 season include Stu BickleHe takes over at Iowa State after four years as an assistant coach at Coachella Valley; Nick ButlandHershey assistant coach, becomes Cleveland’s new head coach; and Daniel JacobHe takes over at Laval after serving as an assistant coach with the Rockets, Syracuse and San Diego.
Charlotte’s Jody KinnearHe was hired as the AHL head coach by the Florida Panthers before the 2016-17 season and is the longest-tenured head coach in the league. closely followed by Carl TaylorHe has been with the Milwaukee Admirals since the start of the 2018-19 season.
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. In 2016, he received the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
