This is an excerpt from this week's AHL Notebook. For more on the American Hockey League, make sure to check out the entire notebook along with the AHL Site!
The Toronto Maple Leafs fired Craig Berube this week. Then, the Edmonton Oilers fired Kris Knoblauch a day later. After a slow offseason from a head coaching perspective, the carousel is in motion, and teams are starting to search for new leaders behind the bench.
It puts coaches from the American Hockey League on everyone’s radar and for good reason. Coaches who have success in the AHL have success anywhere because it’s the hardest league to coach. It’s why Todd Nelson, who is a three-time Calder Cup winner, is an intriguing name for the Maple Leafs, the Oilers, and any other team that might look for a new bench boss.
Why Nelson Has A Great Case To Coach An NHL Team
Nelson has done it all at the AHL level. He won a Calder Cup with the Grand Rapids Griffins and back-to-back titles with the Hershey Bears. When it comes to the arts and sciences of coaching, Nelson was an expert in both areas, as he could connect with the players and make the adjustments needed to win in the regular season and the playoffs.
This season, Nelson further boosted his resume by moving to the Pittsburgh Penguins as an assistant coach. Dan Muse gets most of the credit for turning the Penguins into a playoff team but Nelson was a part of the staff and played a pivotal role in the development of the younger players on the team.
The bonus to being on the Penguins bench is that he’s on the same timeline as the coaching carousel. In the past, Nelson would lead a team on a deep Calder Cup run, and by the time he was ready to interview for jobs, all the spots were taken. The Penguins are eliminated, and teams are just beginning their searches.
The Maple Leafs seem like a great fit if they end up rebuilding. There’s a good chance they have a younger roster next season with the top pick joining the team and an avenue for the new front office to pivot to a younger team. Nelson is the type of coach they’ll want to bring in to kickstart a rebuild, as he can not only get the most out of the top pick but also prospects like Easton Cowan, William Villeneuve, and a few others in the AHL or junior hockey.
The Oilers, meanwhile, are in win-now mode and have a roster that is aging and trying to win a Cup. Nelson going there would be a full circle moment since he was an interim with the Oilers over a decade ago. However, the fit for him is more about his success in big games. The irony, of course, is that they would be replacing a coach with an AHL background in Knoblauch with another AHL background coach.
Some of the most successful coaches in the NHL came over from the AHL. Knoblauch is the most recent case, while Jared Bednar, Jon Cooper, Peter Laviolette, and Barry Trotz are some of the coaches who have won both a Calder and a Stanley Cup. Nelson seems like the next coach in line.
The only question is if he aged himself out of the market. Specifically, Nelson is 57, and most teams that hire a first-year head coach want to bring in a younger option, someone in their 40s who is an up-and-coming name, especially if the team is rebuilding. The other downside is that Nelson will still be a first-time head coach at the NHL level, and teams that are ready to win aren’t willing to take that risk.
Nelson is the name to watch when it comes to successful AHL coaches. Even if the Maple Leafs or Oilers don’t hire him, a team like the Nashville Predators, Seattle Kraken, or Winnipeg Jets might. He’s the one coach who was in the AHL who many believed deserved a shot in the NHL, and this year might finally be the one for him.