The San Jose Sharks are the only NHL team left without a head coach for next season.
Monday, the Winnipeg Jets introduced former Washington Capitals assistant coach Scott Arniel as their new bench boss due to an absence created by Rick Bowness retiring. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also reported Monday night that Dan Bylsma will be the new man in charge of the Seattle Kraken after they fired Dave Hakstol in late April.
The still unfilled San Jose job is currently the only NHL position left for current Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson to vie for this summer.
Nelson has been open about his desire to return to the top spot of an NHL club after his lone experience came in a short stint with the Edmonton Oilers, replacing Dallas Eakins midseason during the 2014-15 campaign. He is just weeks removed from being named the AHL’s Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award winner as the league’s most outstanding head coach and currently has the Bears in the AHL’s Eastern Conference Final for the second straight year.
“I haven’t heard anything and I’m not holding my breath,” Nelson said earlier this month. “I’ve been down this road many times. I’m just focused on the task at hand. Whatever happens, happenscarolina hurricanes informally. I like it here, you know? Focusing on trying to win another Calder Cup.”
Meanwhile, Nelson’s accolades with Hershey keep piling up. He led Hershey to a regular-season title this past season and broke numerous club records as the team finished with a 53-14-0-5 record — the best winning percentage in franchise historywho is tampa bay lightning backup goalie. Making that even more impressive, 12 different Bears players under Nelson’s watch graduated to the NHL with the Washington Capitals.
Nelson has accumulated a 97-33-5-9 record during his two seasons with Hershey — a .722 points percentage. He has also climbed to eighth on the AHL’s all-time wins list posting a 406-222-77 record during his 10 seasons in the league. He has led the Grand Rapids Griffins (2017) and Bears (2023) to Calder Cup championships.
While Nelson hasn’t been given a real shot in the NHL, Arniel and Bylsma already have. Arniel has two previous seasons of experience as a bench boss in the NHL, failing to make the playoffs with the Columbus Blue Jackets twice in a 123-game stint from 2010-2012.
Arniel then went back to a lead role with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL where he missed the playoffs before becoming an associate coach with the New York Rangers and later an assistant with the Capitalsottawa senators line combinations. The Jets hired him as an associate coach before the 2022-23 season.
Bylsma was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ head coach for six years, winning the Stanley Cup in his rookie 2008-09 campaign after Michel Therrien was fired midseason. He then led the Buffalo Sabres to back-to-back playoff misses before transitioning to an assistant role with the Detroit Red Wings.
Bylsma is currently the head coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Kraken’s AHL affiliate. He has the Firebirds back in the AHL Western Conference Final after losing in last year’s Calder Cup Final to…Todd Nelson’s Hershey Bears.
San Jose went 19-54-9 this past season under David Quinn who was fired after the year concluded. The Sharks are quickly progressing through their search though as they’ve held multiple interviews with former South Carolina Stingrays head coach Ryan Warsofsky and former Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill.
Per Friedman, they’ve also met with former Capitals forward Marco Sturm.
NHL teams that have hired new coaches this summer include:
- Buffalo Sabres – Lindy Ruff
- Ottawa Senators – Travis Green
- Toronto Maple Leafs – Craig Berube
- New Jersey Devils – Sheldon Keefe
- Winnipeg Jets – Scott Arniel
- Seattle Kraken – Dan Bylsma (reported)
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