The summer of 2016 saw twelve head coaching changes at AHL teams.

An almost unprecedented amount of appointments for differing reasons, that isn’t likely to be matched anytime soon.

However 2017 has seen eight new men installed – five of those with teams in the Eastern Conference.

The trend to become younger isn‘t just being applied to the rosters of AHL teams, as many of the recently hired head coaches are recently retired from playing and under the age of forty.

The 2017-18 AHL season will welcome three new teams to the fold, but they’ll be coached by some familiar names.

Charlotte Checkers:
Out: Ulf Samuelsson In: Mike Vellucci

For the third consecutive season, the Charlotte Checkers shall have a new man at the helm behind the bench. Ulf Samuelsson guided the Checkers to a 39-29-8 record last year but they would fall to Chicago Wolves in the opening round of the playoffs.With Samuelsson taking up an assistant coach position with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Carolina Hurricanes have promoted within to replace him.

Mike Vellucci has been the Assistant General manager and director of hockey operations for the Hurricanes since 2014 and will continue his GM role alongside his Carolina head coaching duties.

Vellucci is well known to those connected to the OHL, and somewhat of a Plymouth Whalers legend having spent 14 years with the team, mostly as GM/Head Coach. He coached the Whalers to 468 wins during his 826 game tenure, three OHL finals appearance including winning one championship and finishing third in the Memorial Cup.

His first coaching job for three years will be no walk in the park with a very young prospective roster now having to compete in the highly competitive Atlantic Division. It promises to be a baptism of fire for players and coach alike.

Hartford Wolf Pack:
Out: Ken Gernander In: Keith McCambridge

After ten years in charge of the New York Ranger’s affiliate, Ken Gernander has been relieved of his duties. From the outside, the experienced coach has been made the scapegoat for Hartford finishing dead last in the AHL last season. What else he could have achieved with the roster presented to him is debateable and it’s in stark contract to nine winning seasons beforehand.

Post firing, Gernander was offered a position within the Rangers organisation and told by current NY GM Jeff Horton that they were looking to head in a different direction.
That eventually led to Keith McCambridge’s hire as the tenth coach in Hartford history.

A coach in the American League since 2009, McCambridge was awarded the St. John’s top job in 2011. Whilst in control of what was then Winnipeg’s affiliate, four seasons of contrast followed. Two failures to make the playoffs were interchanged with Conference and Calder Cup final appearances. Kept on as Head Coach when the Jet’s moved their affiliate to Manitoba, a horror season led to the Winnipeg organisation parting company with McCambridge.

A 28th placed finish and a minus 70 goal differential certainly weren’t statistics to be proud of, but his hands were certainly tied by a diminished roster.

Hired as an assistant coach by Hartford in August of 2016, this represents another internal promotion for McCambridge, who knows his work will be cut out after last season’s rock bottom finish.

Providence Bruins:
Out: Kevin Dean In: Jay Leach

After five years as an assistant and one as Head Coach, Kevin Dean has been promoted to assistant coach of the Boston Bruins. During his once charge in ultimate control of Providence, Dean led the Bruins to 43 regular season victories and the conference finals this past year. Providence were also one of the best teams in the special teams department with power play’s and penalty kills ranked 11th and 2nd respectively.

Jay Leach has been entrusted with the Providence top job after one year as an assistant coach. Previously holding the same position for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins including a spell an interim Head Coach and a season in Germany as an assistant with Adler Mannheim – winning the championship.

No stranger to the American League, Leach has a combined 560 game playing experience including three seasons on defense for Providence, two as captain.

It’s a tough legacy for Leach to take on in his first command, with the Bruins riding five consecutive seasons of forty plus wins and playoffs.

Rochester Americans:
Out: Dan Lambert In: Chris Taylor

Dan Lambert’s reign lasted just one season as the Buffalo organisation decided to make sweeping changes this summer. It certainly was a season to forget for the Amerks, who posted a 32-41-3 record and allowed 3.15 goals against per game. Lambert has since been announced as HC of the  Spokane Chiefs (WHL) and his successor is Chris Taylor.

Buffalo are hoping it’s better the devil you know with the hiring of Taylor, who becomes the 32nd coach of the Rochester Americans after nine years of playing for the Sabres affiliate.
First appointed as a development coach in 2011, Taylor was then as assistant coach up until last year (let go by Dan Lambert) when he left to take up the same role with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who were the league’s dominant force through the regular season.

This will be Taylor’s first Head Coaching position and the as the seventh HC in ten seasons, the size of the task at hand will not be lost on him. The Amerks have missed the AHL playoffs three consecutive seasons and seven of the last 12 years.

Utica Comets:
Out: Travis Green In: Trent Cull

Travis Green has been promoted to the Vancouver top job and leaves behind a legacy that’ll be difficult to emulate. In four years behind the Comets’ bench, Green never had a losing record. The team made it to the Calder Cup final in 2015 and lost in the semi-finals in the following season.

Trent Cull is the man entrusted with Vancouver’s prospects and he’s not short of coaching experience. Having retired from playing in 2004, Cull immediately headed behind the bench, initially for Guelph Storm (OHL).

After two seasons as an assistant in Guelph, Cull went on to hold the same position for the Syracuse Crunch for four campaigns. His first Head Coaching position was back in the OHL with Sudbury Wolves, making the post-season for three straight seasons before heading back to Syracuse in 2013 and staying there until this Utica appointment.

As well as his extensive AHL coaching experience, the Georgetown, Ontario native played 11 seasons as a defenseman in the AHL and IHL with five teams: St. John’s, Houston, Springfield, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Syracuse.

Chicago Wolves:
Out: Craig Berube In: Rocky Thompson

Craig Berube heads back to the NHL as an associate Coach for the St. Louis Blues after a lone season in Chicago. Under Berube, the wolves recorded 44 victories, were Central Division champions but fell in the second round of the playoffs to eventual champions Grand Rapids Griffins.

With Chicago now in a brand new partnership with the Vegas Golden Knights, the two organisations came to a mutual agreement with the hiring of Rocky Thompson. The 40 year old began his coaching career with the Edmonton Oil Kings before going to be an assistant with the Oklahoma City Barons before their demise. A season as the Edmonton Oilers assistant coach was followed by his first head coaching job with the Windsor Spitfires.
Despite recording forty wins seasons during his two year tenure, the Spitfires would never be able to progress past the first round of the playoffs.

This will be Thompson’s first professional head coaching role but he can call on the experience of his playing career, in which he amassed 566 games in the American League, mostly in the role of an enforcer.

Rockford IceHogs:
Out: Ted Dent In: Jeremy Colliton

It’s out of the old and in with the new for Chicago’s AHL affiliate. Ted Dent spent ten season’s with Rockford, six of those as head coach before last year’s disagreement of views. Dent criticised Chicago, saying Bowman was preventing Rockford from having a winning team with the Icehogs devoid of top end talent and stripped of reliable AHL scoring due to trades. Their 25-39-12 record (62 points) was dead last in the eight-team Central Division and fourth-worst in the 30-team league.

To replace Dent, Chicago have turned to 32-year-old Jeremy Colliton.

The Alberta native had to retire from professional hockey because of post-concussions systems and has spent the last four seasons coaching in Sweden. During his time with Mora IK, he helped lead them to a promotion.Colliton is no stranger to the AHL, having played over 300 games  and the centre man made 57 appearances in the NHL during his shortened playing career.

Chicago’s immediate focus is on developing in Rockford, with the organisation having made a combined eighteen picks at the last two drafts and that’s the task that awaits Colliton.

Tucson Roadrunners:
Out: Mark Lamb In: Mike Van Ryn

Arizona Coyotes general manager John Chayka has made sweeping changes to the organisation and that included parting company with Tucson’s head coach, Mark Lamb.
Chayka cited a disconnect between the parent club and its top minor-league team, despite being the man who appointed the Roadrunners coaching staff for their inaugural season. It was a season of turmoil for many reasons and Tucson missed the playoffs after producing a 29-31-8 record.

The man entrusted with developing Arizona’s young talent is former NHL defenseman, Mike Van Ryn.
The Ontario native has been coaching since 2010, holding roles in junior hockey in Niagara and Kitchener and in-between times as an assistant coach with the now defunct Houston Aeros (AHL).

Last season the 48 year old was Arizona’s Development Coach and will now be taking on his first head coaching role at any level.

Belleville Senators, Binghamton Devils, Laval Rocket:

All three brand new teams will be coached by men who were at the helm of the previous affiliations of Ottawa, New Jersey and Montreal.

This ensures that Kurt Kleinendorst, Rick Kowalsky and perhaps most surprisingly Sylvain Lefebvre, all keep their head coaching jobs for 2017-18.

Full listing of Head Coaches:

Atlantic Division

Bridgeport Sound Tigers: Brent Thompson

Charlotte Checkers: Mike Vellucci

Hartford Wolf Pack: Keith Cambridge

Hershey Bears: Troy Mann

Lehigh Valley Phantoms: Scott Gordon

Providence Bruins: Jay Leach

Springfield Thunderbirds: Geordie Kinnear

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins: Clark Donatelli

North Division

Belleville Senators: Kurt Kleinendorst

Binghamton Devils: Rick Kowalsky

Laval Rocket: Sylvain Lefebvre

Rochester Americans: Chris Taylor

Syracuse Crunch: Benoit Groulx

Toronto Marlies: Sheldon Keefe

Utica Comets: Trent Cull

Central Division

Chicago Wolves: Rocky Thompson

Cleveland Monsters: John Madden

Grand Rapids Griffins: Todd Nelson

Iowa Wild: Derek Lalonde

Manitoba Moose: Pascal Vincent

Milwaukee Admirals: Dean Evason

Rockford IceHogs: Jeremy Colliton

Pacific Division 

Bakersfield Condors: Gerry Fleming

Ontario Reign: Mike Stothers

San Antonio Rampage: Eric Veilleux

San Diego Gulls: Dallas Eakins

San Jose Barracuda: Roy Sommer

Stockton Heat: Ryan Huska

Texas Stars: Derek Laxdal

Tucson Roadrunners: Mike Van Ryn