Central Notes: Plante, Jets, Maxwell

Derek Plante’s time away from the Blackhawks is going to be relatively short as Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune reports that Plante is expected to rejoin Chicago as an assistant coach on Luke Richardson’s staff with an official announcement expected next week.  Plante has spent the last two seasons as the Associate Coach with Minnesota-Duluth of the NCAA but before that, he spent five years as a Player Development Coach with the Blackhawks.  He’ll join former interim head coach Derek King and Kevin Dean as Richardson’s assistants.  Plante briefly spent time as a player with Chicago back in 2000 when he was acquired (with Dean) in a trade near the trade deadline.

More from the Central:

• When Danton Heinen opted to re-sign with Pittsburgh on a one-year, $1MM deal, it seemed a little on the light side relative to his production. He was, after all, coming off an 18-goal, 33-point season.  However, it wasn’t the biggest offer he had as Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe relays (Twitter link) that several teams, including the Jets, tendered higher offers.  Heinen would have made some sense for Winnipeg – they have some cap flexibility this summer that they haven’t had in recent years which gives them the flexibility to upgrade their depth.  Fortunately for them, there are several similar wingers still on the market and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them pivot to one of those before long.
• The Blues are set to add to their scouting department as Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that St. Louis is expected to hire Kevin Maxwell. Maxwell had spent the last decade as the head professional scout for the Rangers while also spending time with the Islanders, Stars, Flyers, and Whalers.