The Predators introduced that longtime Wild coach and participant Darby Hendrickson will reunite with former Minnesota teammate Andrew Brunette behind the Nashville bench as an assistant coach.
Hendrickson and Brunette spent components of three seasons along with the Wild shortly after their inception, together with one of many nice Cinderella runs of the last decade after they superior to the 2003 Western Convention Last.
The Twin Cities native started his teaching profession as an assistant with the Wild in 2010, a job he held below a number of head coaches till being fired final month.
The Preds didn’t say which tasks would fall below Hendrickson’s purview. He held a wide range of completely different roles throughout his time in Minnesota.
Common supervisor Barry Trotz had this to say on Hendrickson’s addition:
“After spending greater than a decade as knowledgeable participant, he has now been a high quality coach within the NHL for a very long time and additional strengthens our workers’s capacity to speak and educate the sport at a excessive degree. His familiarity with Andrew Brunette – having been each teammates and coaches collectively previously – provides to the cohesiveness of our group, and his expertise as an NHL participant and coach makes him very relatable to at the moment’s participant. With Darby now on our workers, our coaches personal greater than 2,200 mixed video games of NHL enjoying expertise, one thing we really feel is extremely useful for our crew’s progress as we attempt to attain our aim of profitable the Stanley Cup.”
Hendrickson additionally labored with Brunette on the Wild bench between 2014 and 2016. He fills out Nashville’s workers for subsequent season alongside assistants Derek MacKenzie and Todd Richards and goalie coach Ben Vanderklok. He replaces Dan Hinote, whom the crew parted methods with final month after 4 seasons behind the Preds bench.
The Preds additionally introduced that former defender Cody Franson is becoming a member of their beginner scouting division. Now 36, Franson retired after the 2021-22 marketing campaign however final performed within the NHL with the Blackhawks in 2017-18. A 3rd-round choose of the Preds in 2005, Franson additionally spent final season within the Wild group as an assistant coach with AHL Iowa.
