The Penguins have a number of coaching vacancies to fill this summer.
Last week we took a look at five potential candidates to fill the assistant coaching void left by Todd Reirden's firing to manage the defense and power play.
The Penguins have at least one vacancy to fill behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's bench, too. Last month the Penguins opted to not renew the expiring contracts of head coach J.D. Forrest and assistant coach Kevin Porter. Forrest had been with Wilkes-Barre for eight years, four as an assistant coach and four as head coach. Porter was in his fourth year as an assistant coach, and had been managing the forwards and power play in his last two years in that role.
The Penguins don't necessarily need to hire an assistant at that level at all -- assistant coach Sheldon Brookbank is still under contract and hasn't gone anywhere, and not all AHL teams have multiple assistant coaches. Oftentimes a member of the development staff pops in from time to time and is behind the bench as another assistant coach.
The Penguins will definitely need to hire a new head coach for Wilkes-Barre, a search that's being led by assistant general manager Jason Spezza.
Who are some potential candidates out there? Let's take a look at five.
SHELDON KEEFE
Keefe is available after being fired by the Maple Leafs on Thursday. The Devils, Sharks, Kraken and Jets still have head coaching vacancies, and Keefe could be considered for any of those roles. But if he doesn't find an NHL job this summer, he might be a good fit for the Wilkes-Barre job.
There's the obvious Kyle Dubas connection -- Dubas hired Keefe in the OHL with the Soo Greyhounds, the AHL with the Toronto Marlies, and then in the NHL with the Maple Leafs. They have a good relationship.
Regardless of that relationship, if you're looking for someone with success at the AHL level to manage the AHL team, Keefe brings that. He was the head coach of the Marlies for four full seasons, and led them to the franchise's first Calder Cup in 2018 and the award for the league's best regular-season team twice. The Marlies went 199-89-22-9 under Keefe and won nine total playoff rounds (five of them being sweeps) over four postseasons.
“If you look at Sheldon’s track record — the amount of players on the Toronto Maple Leafs who’ve played for Sheldon with the Marlies, the job he’s done in developing players for us that were some early-round draft picks, some late-round draft picks," Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said of Keefe in 2019.
A number of NHL players played for Keefe in the AHL, including Zach Hyman, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall and Timothy Liljegren. With the Greyhounds, Keefe's players included Darnell Nurse, Jared McCann, Nick Cousins and Michael Bunting.
Keefe's had success in developing players and winning at the minor-league level. That's all needed.
SHELDON BROOKBANK
Brookbank is still around after being an assistant coach with Wilkes-Barre the last two seasons, focusing on the defense and penalty-kill. Wilkes-Barre's penalty-kill ranked second in the league this season behind Hershey at 85.4%. Last season it ranked fourth at 81.5%. Brookbank worked with Jack St. Ivany over the last two seasons, as well as Ryan Shea this season.
Brookbank was an assistant coach with the Blackhawks for parts of four seasons before the Blackhawks' whole coaching staff was fired in November 2021, and Brookbank previously spent a season and part of another as an AHL assistant for the Blackhawks' affiliate in Rockford.
Brookbank had a long playing career as a defenseman himself split between the AHL and NHL, including 351 NHL games over eight seasons. He won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013, though he only played one game that postseason.
If the Penguins are looking for the kind of AHL head coach who is more of a coach-in-waiting type for an NHL gig, then a first-time head coach like Brookbank might not be the guy. But he's fared pretty well as an assistant at that level.
DEREK ARMY
Army's been the head coach of the Nailers for the last three full seasons. He was an assistant with Wheeling for a year before being promoted, and was an assistant for parts of two seasons with the ECHL's Worcester Railers before getting the Nailers job.
When Army took over as head coach in 2021, he inherited a Nailers team that hadn't even made the playoffs since 2016, when Wheeling made a run to the Kelly Cup Final before losing in six games to the Allen Americans. Army was playing for the Nailers on that 2016 team. He was a second-year pro, and it was his first of three stints with the Nailers.
Army led the Nailers back to the playoffs in his first season as head coach, knocking out the Fort Wayne Komets in seven games before being swept by the Toledo Walleye in four games in the second round. The Nailers missed the playoffs last year, but got right back in it this year. They eliminated the Indy Fuel in five games in the first round, and are currently down 3-0 in their second-round series against the Walleye.
The Nailers under Army are physical and play with an edge, and show no hesitation to stick up for each other when opponents take liberties on one of their teammates, something Army emphasized after the Nailers' first-round win. The Nailers' power-play was tied for 11th in the league in the regular season at 20.5%, and the penalty kill ranked 22nd at 77.7%.
Army actually really loves Wheeling. Always has. I remember interviewing him when he was a player during his third stint down there and asked -- maybe in a nicer way -- why the heck he keeps coming back. He called Wheeling his "second home" and spoke of the connection he feels with the city itself. He was a fan favorite then, and he's a fan favorite now as coach. The public address announcer in Wheeling announces Army as head coach after he announces the starting lineup, with the same energy he has for the players. And Army gets as much applause -- maybe even more -- as his players. He lives in Wheeling year-round, which is definitely uncommon for someone in his position.
Army's not looking to jump at the first opportunity out of Wheeling like some of his predecessors. But if the opportunity were right, I'm sure he'd have interest.
TIM ARMY
If the Penguins are looking for more of a coach-in-waiting ... Hey, Derek Army's dad Tim is definitely that.
Tim Army's been coaching a long time at a variety of different levels. He started out as an assistant for his alma mater Providence College for six years from 1987-93 before taking on an assistant coaching job with the Mighty Ducks. He was with Anaheim for four years before serving in the same capacity for the Capitals for five years. He then moved down to the AHL in a head coaching role with the AHL's Portland Pirates for three years before moving back to Providence College as head coach for six years. Army moved back to the NHL in 2011 and was an assistant coach with the Avalanche for six seasons. He spent a year as an assistant coach in Wilkes-Barre in 2017-18, then served as head coach of the AHL's Iowa Wild for five seasons until his contract wasn't renewed in 2023. He spent the last year coaching the Chinese national team. Army also won World Championship bronze twice with Team USA as an assistant coach in 1996 and 2013.
As an NHL assistant coach Army focused on forwards and the power play, specialties that could be nice to have if Brookbank is to stick around as the defense/penalty-kill guy.
Army told Minnesota reporter Joe Smith after his Wild contract wasn't renewed in 2023 that he's still looking to coach, hopefully in the NHL one day. If he'd be open to another AHL head coaching job as he looks for that path, his experience could be a plus for Wilkes-Barre.
It probably wouldn't hurt that he's already got a good relationship with the ECHL affiliate's head coach, either.
MIKE VAN RYN
Van Ryn's employed right now as an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs. But the Leafs left the fate of the assistants up in the air after firing Keefe, saying "decisions regarding the remainder of the coaching staff will follow" the search for a new head coach.
There's no Dubas connection here -- Van Ryn was only in his first season as an assistant in Toronto. If he's not retained in Toronto, an AHL head coaching job might be the next step for him.
Van Ryn spent five years as an assistant coach with the Blues before the Blues' assistant coaches were fired after the 2022-23 season. He won a Stanley Cup in his first season behind the Blues' bench in 2019 under Craig Berube.
Before the Blues job, Van Ryn spent two years working with Coyotes prospects -- first as a development coach in 2016-17, then as head coach of the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners the following year. Some good prospects came out of those Roadunners teams, including Bunting, Dylan Strome, Conor Garland and Christian Fischer. Before the Coyotes, Van Ryn spent three years coaching in the OHL with the Kitchener Rangers first as an associate coach for two years and then one year as head coach. Van Ryn's first head coaching job in the professional ranks was an assistant with the Wild's AHL affiliate Houston Aeros for two years from 2011-13. He dealt more with the defensemen in his role, and Marco Scandella was one of the more prominent young defenseman to spend extended time with the Aeros during those seasons.
