There have only been seven European-born head coaches in the NHL's 108-year history.

Jussi Ahokas is trying to be the eighth.

But before the 45-year-old from Finland can add his name to a list that can be counted on with two hands, the newest coach of the Colorado Avalanche's AHL affiliate has to spend time developing in the minors.

For Ahokas, who three years ago arrived in the OHL with a thick accent and some crazy, new ideas about playing "position-less hockey," it's yet another stop on his long and winding journey to one day becoming the first European head coach to lift the Stanley Cup.

"Of course, my dream is to one day coach in the NHL," Ahokas said in a phone interview with The Hockey News. "Who knows what is the best route? Every coach is different. But I thought this opportunity was the best for me as a coach right now."

While the number of Europeans who have coached in the NHL might not be reflective of a global sport, the league has recently become more welcoming to non-North Americans.

Two years ago, Sweden's Anders Sorensen was named the interim coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. The following season, Germany's Marco Sturm was named coach of the Boston Bruins.

Ahokas, who was hired last week as the coach of the Colorado Eagles, will likely be the next.

After all, he's proven he can win at just about any level in just about any league – and in any country.

A longtime coach in Finland, where he spent the past two decades, Ahokas was named Liiga coach of the year in 2019-20 and won gold at the U-18 and U-20 World Championships, where he coached Dallas' Miro Heiskanen and Florida's Anton Lundell as juniors. He even helped coach the women's team to a bronze medal at the 2010 Olympics. 

With hopes of landing an NHL job, Ahokas finally made the jump from Europe to North America in 2023 and joined the OHL's Kitchener Rangers. 

In his second season, Ahokas won the Matt Leyden Trophy as coach of the year.

This year, he added a league championship and Memorial Cup to his resume.

All the while, he proved that hockey – whether it is played in Canada or Finland – is a universal language.

"He was very open about his goal to move up," said Rangers GM Mike McKenzie. "He wants to coach in the NHL one day. There wasn't a surprise on our part. It's the reason he came here."

From the start, McKenzie said there were some growing pains that were mostly associated with a Finnish coach trying to communicate with teenagers, many of whom had never stepped outside of Ontario – much less North America.

"The language thing was the biggest one," McKenzie said of Ahokas' challenges in coaching in Canada. "We live in Ontario, and 99 percent of the players speak English. Jussi speaks English, but he has an accent. There were some differences. It's a perception thing."

Indeed, from the size of the rink to the lack of physicality, the perception of European coaches can be that they are used to coaching a game that is drastically different from North American hockey. Ahokas leaned into this distinction by coaching a style that he called "position-less hockey." 

When asked what this means, Ahokas said it is a system that trusts players to read and react to the play, sometimes temporarily playing another position while covering for one another. 

"It's more understanding the game," he said. "We have a system in place, but I would say if we have a center low and our 'D' is faster to jump up with the rush, that's a better situation for him to do it. And if our 'D' in the O-zone has gone down for the puck and all of a sudden something happens, another player covers for him.

"It's just understanding number-wise who you are when we play."  

The result is a faster, up-tempo style of hockey that led to a 135-52-13-4 record during Ahokas' time in Kitchener. 

This past year, the Rangers had the second-best record in the OHL, ranking fourth in goals scored (3.83 per game) and third in goals against (2.63 per game).

"Every year I thought we got a better team and the players progressed," Ahokas said. "That was a huge part. Just growing and going all the way. I thought all of our years were good, but last year, we had a team that was actually able to win a championship."

Now, Ahokas plans on implementing that system in the AHL.

If all goes well, we could see him running a similar system in the NHL, which Ahokas said is built for "position-less hockey."

"It's a modern game," he said. "You want to play winning hockey. You want to play the right way. The players understand you have to play a certain way if they want to make the jump to the NHL.

"Aall in all, it's important that you've been coaching in the pro level in North America. But I don't want to (think too far ahead). Right now, let's do my job with the Eagles in the best way possible and work hard there."

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