When Andrew Lord was promoted to Cardiff Devils Head Coach alongside his playing duties in 2014, nobody could have imagined the journey he was about to embark on.
The EIHL has rarely been a springboard from which coaches have gone on to launch their careers. More often, it’s been a graveyard.
The emphasis on the league title and a win-at-all-cost mentality has prematurely ended the tenures of many coaches, no matter their nationality.
Cardiff won nine separate titles under Lord’s guidance, including two Challenge Cup championships, two League titles and two Playoff championships. The league-winning campaign of 2017 marked the first league title in twenty years for the Welsh club.
Lord is the winningest coach in Devils history, leading them to an overall record of 221-75-22. He earned the league’s Coach of the Year award twice in 2017 and 2018.
Despite being offered a highly incentivised contract in which Lord would have eventually been financially rewarded with a stake in the team, the BC native took the chance to further his career in 2020.
Lord spent four seasons with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, the ECHL affiliate team associated with the Ontario Reign and the Los Angeles Kings.
During his time as General Manager and Head Coach, Greenville qualified for the postseason in all four of his campaigns, which included back-to-back 40-win seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
In total, Lord compiled a 155-94-39 record in 288 games, a 0.606 points percentage, and reached the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals.
In his final campaign, the team’s win total and point total (93) were both the highest during his time with the Swamp Rabbits, who finished first in the South Division. They also set a team franchise record by earning 30 wins in just 42 games, faster than any other club in team history.
As a consequence, Lord was selected as a coach for the 2024 ECHL All-Star Classic, earning the honour by attaining the highest points percentage in the Eastern Conference before the Christmas break.
At the conclusion of the season, he was awarded the league’s John Brophy Award, which recognises the ECHL Coach of the Year.
Lord’s next step on his coaching journey was to return to his native Canada to add another string to his coaching bow.
The Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League is one of the most storied franchises, but was in transition when Lord took over.
Lord held the reins to a young roster, 50% of which were under the age of 18, at the start of the campaign.
They were unfavoured to make many waves during the regular season, let alone the postseason.
Halifax was the youngest playoff qualifier during the 2024-25 season, with an 18-33-9 record.
Facing the top-ranked Drummondville Voltigeurs, who had won forty regular-season games, Lord orchestrated an unthinkable first-round upset.
The Mooseheads won the first two games of the series on the road, the second in overtime, but the higher seeds repaid the favour in Halifax and tied the series 2-2. Halifax won game five on home ice before the series switched back to Drummondville for games six and seven.
A comprehensive 6-0 for Voltigeurs in game six seemed to turn the tide, and everyone was predicting the home team to see off their plucky opponents.
With Jacob Steinman producing a 38-save shutout, Halifax won game seven by a 2-0 scoreline, stunning fans and pundits along the way.
That gargantuan effort took its toll as Halifax were swept in the following round. That said, it was an incredible effort from the Mooseheads and a rookie head coach in the junior leagues.
It was one and done for Lord in junior as the next step up the ladder in the professional game presented itself.
Marco Sturm departed the Ontario Reign to take the head coaching job in Boston, and a familiar name came calling.
As per LA Kings Insider, “(Ontario Reign’s General Manager Richard) Seeley served as both a boss and a mentor for Lord during his time leading Greenville, someone who not only communicated information about transactions, but also helped with the rest of the job and lending an ear as someone who had been through that before. Now they’ll be working together again in an even closer capacity.”
Seeley held the head coaching role in Manchester (the Monarchs were formerly LA’s AHL affiliate), so he knows what awaits Lord.
The American Hockey League is a beast unlike any other, with more than one objective at any given time.
Your roster can change in an instant through call-ups, trades, injuries or reassignments.
An impacted roster can affect the ability to win, and many NHL organisations place a high importance on that, alongside young players gaining playoff experience.
Then there is ‘development’ and placing players in positions which ultimately help their long-term learning curve, but may hinder the team’s chance to win.
It’s that balance which the Vancouver native will have to deal with, as Los Angeles does have some fascinating prospects in the ranks, including four players selected inside the top 100 of the draft.
Expectations will be high for Jakub Dvořák, Kirill Kirsanov, Jack Hughes (currently unsigned) and Koehn Ziemmer.
At this tentative stage, Angus Booth, Otto Salin, Martin Chromiak, Kenny Connors, Kaleb Lawrence and Jared Wright make up the remainder of the prospects on a roster which is likely to average out at under 24 years of age.
I highly doubt much will phase Lord, who has already risen through the ranks the hard way rather than being given a leg up at any stage of his coaching career.
In one form or another, he has driven his teams to success, given their respective backgrounds. I would not bet against him putting together a strong body of work, which may lead him to the next level.
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