Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Arizona Coyotes Name Two Assistant Coaches

07/26/2017 at 2:03pm EDT

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - Arizona Coyotes President of Hockey Operations and General Manager John Chayka announced today that the Coyotes have signed John MacLean and Scott Allen to multi-year contracts to serve as assistant coaches on Head Coach Rick Tocchet's staff. As per club policy, terms of the contracts were not disclosed. MacLean and Allen will work alongside Goaltending Coach Jon Elkin and Video Coach Steve Peters.

"We are very pleased to have John and Scott join the Coyotes organization," said Chayka. "Both individuals bring a wealth of hockey knowledge and coaching experience to our team and we are confident that they will be great additions to Head Coach Rick Tocchet's staff."

Most recently, MacLean served as an assistant coach for the Carolina Hurricanes from 2011-14. The 52-year-old native of Oshawa, Ont., previously spent eight seasons as a coach in the New Jersey Devils organization, including seven years as an assistant coach. MacLean won a Stanley Cup with the Devils as an assistant coach in 2003. He also served as head coach of the Lowell Devils of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2009-10, leading the Devils' affiliate to its best-ever record and first-ever playoff berth. He was named as the head coach for the New Jersey Devils prior to the 2010-11 season, but was replaced 33 games into his first season as an NHL head coach. Most recently, MacLean worked as an analyst on the NHL Network (2015-17) and previously was as an analyst for the MSG Network, including pre- and post-game coverage for the New Jersey Devils.

"I played against John MacLean my entire career and always felt that his hockey IQ was outstanding," said Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet. "We had numerous talks about systems, and philosophy and John's passion to coach and I was very impressed with him."

Drafted by New Jersey sixth overall in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, MacLean played 18 NHL seasons with the Devils, San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers and Dallas Stars, collecting 413 goals, 429 assists, 842 points and 1,328 penalty minutes in 1,194 career NHL games. A two-time NHL All-Star (1989, 1991), MacLean won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 1995. He registered 35-48-83 and 152 penalty minutes in 104 career Stanley Cup playoff games.

Entering his 22nd year in professional coaching, Scott Allen served as an assistant coach for the Florida Panthers in 2016-17. Allen spent the last three seasons in the Panthers organization, serving as the head coach of Florida's American Hockey League affiliate, the Portland Pirates in 2015-16 as well as an assistant coach for San Antonio (AHL) in 2014-15.

"Scott Allen just loves the game of hockey and he has dedicated himself to coaching," added Tocchet. "I spoke with many established hockey people around the League and they all said that Scott was a terrific teacher and coach."

The 51-year-old native of New Bedford, Mass., has previously served as a head coach or assistant coach with the Johnstown Chiefs (ECHL) from 1996-2002; the San Antonio Rampage (AHL) from 2002-04; the Lowell Lock Monsters (AHL) in 2004-05; the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights (AHL) from 2005-07 and the Quad City Flames (AHL) from 2007-09, before being hired as an assistant coach with the New York Islanders (2009-12). After his time in New York, Allen joined the St. Louis Blues organization, where he was an assistant coach for the Blues' AHL affiliates, the Peoria Rivermen (2012-13) and the Chicago Wolves (2013-14). Allen returned to San Antonio for the 2014-15 season.

During his 10-year professional playing career, Allen competed in the All American Hockey League, Atlantic Coast Hockey League, Colonial Hockey League, Central Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League. During the 1988-89 campaign, Allen won the first of his personal back-to-back ECHL titles, first with the Carolina Thunderbirds 1989 and the following year, 1990, as a member of the Greensboro Monarchs.

The Coyotes also announced today that Mike Van Ryn has been named as the head coach of the Coyotes' American Hockey League affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. In addition, John Slaney and Steve Potvin have been named assistant coaches for the Roadrunners. Mark Lamb and Mark Hardy will not be returning next season.

"I'm very pleased to name Mike as our new head coach for the Tucson Roadrunners," said Chayka. "Mike has great knowledge of the game and is an excellent communicator. He did a great job working with and developing our top prospects in Tucson last season and together with John and Steve, will form a very good coaching staff for us."

Van Ryn joined the Coyotes on August 24, 2016 as the team's Development Coach and was responsible for working with the Coyotes' top prospects in Tucson (AHL) last season.

Prior to that, the 38-year-old native of London, Ont., served as the head coach of the Kitchener Rangers (OHL) in 2015-16. Van Ryn led the Rangers to a 44-17-5-2 record and the fourth-most points in the OHL (95). Van Ryn was previously an associate coach with Kitchener from 2013-15. The former NHL defenseman collected 30-99-129 and 260 penalty minutes (PIM) in 353 career games with the St. Louis Blues, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Potvin also joined the Coyotes organization on August 24, 2016 as the club's skills coach. Potvin's main focus was player assessment and individual skill improvement. The 42-year-old native of Montreal, QC., joined the Coyotes after a professional career that included 478 professional American Hockey League (AHL) and top European league games. The former forward registered 31-44-75 in 158 career AHL games. Potvin collected 133 goals and 184 assists in 350 games over 10 seasons in Europe.

Slaney joined the Coyotes as an assistant coach on July 8, 2015 and served in this role the past two seasons. Prior to that, he spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach with the Portland Pirates (AHL), the Coyotes former AHL affiliate. The 45-year-old native of St. John's, Newfoundland joined the organization in 2011-12 after finishing his playing career with Plzen HC (Czech) following the 2010-11 season.

Leaving his mark as one of the best defensemen in AHL history, Slaney joined the Pirates coaching staff with a wealth of accolades. He was a two-time recipient of the Eddie Shore Award (given annually to the AHL's top defenseman) with the Philadelphia Phantoms in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons, and also won a Calder Cup championship with the Phantoms in 2005. Slaney became the AHL's all-time leading scorer as a defenseman in 2005-06 until his mark (519 career points) was surpassed by Oklahoma City's Bryan Helmer. He also posted 14-13-27 in 29 games with Portland during its 1993-94 Calder Cup championship season.

Slaney collected 22-69-91 in 268 NHL games with the Washington Capitals (1993-95), Colorado Avalanche (1995-96), Los Angeles Kings (1995-97), Phoenix Coyotes (1997-98), Nashville Predators (1998-99), Pittsburgh Penguins (1999-00) and Philadelphia Flyers (2001-02; 2003-04). He also played in 14 games for the Capitals (1993-94), Penguins (1999-00), and Flyers (2001-02) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs where he recorded two goals and registered an assist.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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