Team Canada not only brought current Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy to be an assistant coach but added former HC Peter DeBoer and former assistant coach Misha Donskov.
Four assistant coaches have joined Jon Cooper’s staff for the #4Nations Face-Off. 🇨🇦
Quatre entraîneurs adjoints épauleront Jon Cooper à la Confrontation des 4 nations. 🇨🇦
🍁 Bruce Cassidy
🍁 Peter DeBoer
🍁 Rick Tocchet
🍁 Misha Donskov@NHL | @LNH_FR | @NHLPA— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) July 31, 2024
Jon Cooper was announced as Team Canada’s head coach well before the announcement was made about the rest of the coaching staff. Cassidy’s inclusion on the staff isn’t very surprising considering his resume and his recent success with the Golden Knights. The surprise came when the realization that three out of the four assistant coaches had a history with the Golden Knights.
DeBoer, the current head coach of the Dallas Stars coached the Golden Knights from the middle of the 2019-20 season to the end of the 2021-22 season. In his time he helped the Golden Knights make it to the conference finals twice.
Up until the beginning of the 2023-24 season, Donskov was an assistant coach or the director of hockey operations for the Golden Knights. He became an assistant coach prior to the 2019-20 playoffs when DeBoer took over as head coach. He stayed with the Golden Knights once Cassidy was hired but left to join DeBoer’s staff in Dallas after the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup.
The fourth assistant coach named to Team Canada was Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. The four assistant coaches will be dealt the difficult task of trying to get the best out of the star-studded lineup. Playing internationally, many stars can struggle to adapt to playing a different/lesser role. The assistant coaches need to make that transition as smooth and seamless as possible.
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