Avalanche Offseason
Dan Hinote Leaves Organization For Job in Tampa Bay
Dan Hinote is on his way to Tampa Bay. The Lightning announced on Friday that the former Avalanche Stanley Cup champion was hired as an assistant coach on Jon Cooper’s staff.
Hinote, who is filling the role vacated by Jeff Blashill, was the Colorado Eagles’ associate coach in the AHL this past season. He worked on the power play for the Avs’ AHL club and helped the team finish with the sixth-best PP in the AHL.
The Eagles also finished third in the league in the regular season.
Before joining Colorado last summer, Hinote previously spent four years as an assistant coach for both the Nashville Predators and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
I’m not entirely sure Hinote will be in charge of the PP in Tampa. Cooper’s other assistant, Jeff Halpern, handles the PP and has done so since 2018. Hinote is replacing Blashill after the Blackhawks hired the former Red Wings bench boss to be their head coach.
Blashill was fired by the Red Wings in 2022 and ended up switching places with then-Lightning assistant coach Derek Lalonde. Both Lalonde and Blashill were in charge of the team’s penalty kill. I’d assume Hinote will assume that role.
I do wonder if the Avs had any interest in hiring Hinote to fill their assistant coach role after the team fired Ray Bennett last month. Bennett was handling PP duties, and the Avs are still looking for his replacement.
One name I was curious about was David Quinn. He was once an assistant in Colorado and helped the Penguins elevate their PP this past season. But the Rangers announced earlier this week that Quinn would be joining Mike Sullivan in New York as an assistant coach for the Rangers.
Lalonde is another name I wondered about for Colorado. His Red Wings had a spectacular power play during his tenure as head coach. His assistant Alex Tanguay, a familiar name to the Avs, is still holding the same role in Detroit and is unlikely to leave his post. But Lalonde likely learned a thing or two from Tanguay.
Either way, he’s no longer available as the Toronto Maple Leafs announced he’d be joining Craig Berube’s staff as an assistant coach.
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Dan Hinote Leaves Organization For Job in Tampa Bay
Best of luck to Danny Hinote. Always appreciated him as a player. Good defender, dedicated forechecker, penalty kill. You need those guys.
Also: best West Point attendee in NHL history? Not sure.
Good luck, Danny!
Unrelated: how about Pete DeBoer getting canned?! I think the Oettinger thing is the primary reason, but losing in 5 to a very beatable Oilers team contributed for sure. Assuming he doesn’t get another head coaching job right away, could he be a solution to the Avs power play? Probably not, but you never know! Regardless, it will be nice not having to face him in the playoffs again any time soon – and the Stars got a LOT more beatable by the Avs with him gone.
A guy with his resume would never take an AC job. Also would the dude has a resting facial expression that makes him look like someone just gave him a wedgie…again, which I would hate to see on the av’s bench.
Amen to the Avs not having to face the Stars with DeBoer behind the bench again. I wonder if Brind’Amour might not follow him out the door in Carolina if he can’t beat the Panthers again next year.
Good on Danny! Avs should talk to DeBoer. He
‘s sufficiently befuddled us that if he’s going to take an assistant role, let him take it here!
Please hire deboer as assistant