Belleville Senators head coach David Bell should be an NHL coaching prospect to watch over the next few seasons.
When Ottawa Senators fans think of the Belleville Senators, names that generally come to mind are the prospects the team is waiting on – players like Mads Sogaard, Egor Sokolov, Roby Jarventie, Lassi Thomson, Tyler Kleven, Zack Ostapchuk, and Angus Crookshank.
The same can't always be said about the man responsible for their development.
Late last season, former Ottawa 67 David Bell took the reigns as head coach of the Baby Sens on an interim basis. The temporary tag was removed after the season ended.
"David is very deserving of this promotion," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said in a May club press release. "His transition from assistant to the interim head coaching position this past winter was seamless. We've witnessed good synergy between coaching staffs at the AHL and NHL levels, which continues to be vital for an organization seeking to take the next step in both leagues."
There probably aren't many Ottawa fans who kept track of Bell after his four-year playing career with the 67's, which included two trips to the league finals. His professional playing career spanned nine cities in three leagues.
Bell's coaching career is equally well-traveled, with Belleville being his eighth stop and fourth league over the past 19 years. This is his first head coaching gig in the American Hockey League.
If the mark of an AHL prospect who ultimately makes it to the NHL is perseverance, then the Ottawa Senators couldn't have chosen a better role model for their prospects.
During his playing career, Bell commanded respect more by his actions than anything he said. Though his offensive numbers as a defenseman were respectable, his 463 career penalty minutes in the OHL showed that Bell understood the role he needed to play to try and forge a pro hockey career.
This is a lesson that many AHL players, who may have been stars at previous levels, need to learn to transition to the show. For example, Bell had that very conversation with B-Sens forward Angus Crookshank, Belleville's leading goal scorer last season.
"(Angus) knew that he needed to work on his D-zone coverage and 200-foot game," Bell told TheAHL.com last season. "He works every day with video. Now, you're starting to see this guy grow. I can put him out in the final minute, or I can put him out with the lead, and he's going to be responsible.
"That's where I've seen the biggest growth in Angus, and he needs that growth to take the next jump."
Though hockey and the role that fighting plays in it has changed since Bell was a player, there is something to be said about playing for a coach who wouldn't ask a player to do anything he wouldn't do himself.
The B-Sens are off to a 3-2-1 start, but it's no secret that, in the AHL, getting to the next level isn't necessarily a matter of how much winning you do. For example, in 2011, Binghamton Senators head coach Kurt Kleinendorst won an AHL title but never got to coach in the NHL. The coach Kleinendorst defeated that year, Mike Yeo, has had two stops as an NHL head coach and two as an assistant.
If Sogaard, Sokolov, Jarventie, Thomson, Kleven, Ostapchuk, and Crookshank ascend to the parent club, that only elevates the chances that Bell could one day join them.
NHL teams always stress the importance of having prospects in the system. Having a future NHL coach in the system doesn't hurt either.