from Allan Maki of the Globe and Mail,

The first black head coach in the history of professional hockey likes what he sees when he follows today’s NHL. Black players starring at forward, on defence, in goal. Black captains with the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils. And perhaps this June, the first black player selected No.1 overall in an NHL entry draft.

The league that turned down Herb Carnegie because of his skin colour has indeed changed, says John Paris Jr., the man who guided the Atlanta Knights to an International Hockey League championship in 1994. But there’s more to be done, more progress to be made.

What Paris is hoping to see are more black coaches and executives. The NHL recently hired its first European general manager, Jarmo Kekalainen of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and has had only one head coach of African descent, Dirk Graham. He lasted 59 games with the 1998-99 Chicago Blackhawks. Currently, of the more than 100 coaching jobs in the NHL, there is only one black assistant, Paul Jerrard of the Dallas Stars.

continued

update 1:04pm, The story no longer appears on the Globe and Mail site so the link will not work. I will try to update on this issue.