Ducks finalize 2024-25 coaching staff

David Rook is out as goaltending coach, replaced by Peter Budaj. Sudarshan Maharaj has been promoted to director of goaltending.

After relieving assistant Craig Johnson and Newell Brown of their duties earlier this offseason, the Ducks have now rounded out their coaching staff for the 2024-25 season.

Rich Clune was added to the staff on June 21 as an assistant coach and now, Peter Budaj and Tim Army have also been added to the staff.

Budaj served as goaltending coach for the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, for the last two-plus seasons (he joined mid-way through the 2021-22 season).

He reunites with head coach Greg Cronin—the Eagles’ head coach before being hired by the Ducks last season—and replaces David Rook, who departs the club after just one season after coming over from the Nashville Predators.

Budaj played parts of 13 seasons in the NHL, with six seasons being with Colorado. He also had two different stints with the Los Angeles Kings.

Army returns to the Ducks after serving as an assistant coach during the first four seasons of their existence from 1993-1997. Most recently, he spent five seasons as head coach of the Iowa Wild, the Minnesota Wild’s AHL affiliate, from 2018-2023 before joining Team China’s coaching staff as an associate coach for 2023-24.

Army was also head coach of the Ducks’ AHL affiliate when Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry began their professional careers in 2005-06.

Both Cronin and Army were head coaches in Hockey East from 2005-2011. Cronin was head coach of Northeastern while Army was head coach of Providence. The pair of coaches are good friends, presumably from their matchups over the years and both of them hailing from the East Coast.

As previously mentioned by general manager Pat Verbeek at the Summer Flock Party which took place a day after the 2024 NHL Draft, goaltending coach Sudarshan Maharaj has been promoted to director of goaltending.

Maharaj was absent from the team for most of the 2023-24 season while undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. With his cancer now in remission, he has returned to the team and was on the ice for development camp at the beginning of July.

In his new role, Maharaj will oversee all aspects of the organization’s goaltending, including coaching, development and scouting. Budaj and San Diego Gulls goaltending coach Jeff Glass will both report to Maharaj while supporting the club’s goaltending objectives.