Well that didn’t take long. The Monsters have already found their replacement for Jared Bednar, announcing that John Madden will be new the Head Coach.
Welcome John Madden, the new head coach of @monstershockey. #CBJ
— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) August 29, 2016
DETAILS: https://t.co/8htaiCWCz6 pic.twitter.com/KZRJeqxp9x
As you can see in the tweet, Madden has previously spent time behind the bench of the Florida Panthers. Madden was the assistant coach in Florida for the previous three seasons. That is his only previous coaching experience.
Madden had a long and successful career in the NHL playing in 898 games, primarily with the New Jersey Devils. He played for New Jersey for 10 seasons, serving as the assistant Captain for five of them. He won two Cups with the Devils during his time there and another with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was always regarded as a strong defensive player and someone with a strong work ethic. Without knowing anything about his coaching style, if he can pass along some of his knowledge of the game to the prospects on the farm this will be a success. The Jackets are very high on Madden as he was clearly their guy from the start of this search.
#CBJ targeted Madden from start of the search. GM Kekalainen spoke with him at length on Saturday. There were no other serious candidates.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) August 29, 2016
Blue Jackets assistant GM Bill Zito knows Madden very well.
Blue Jackets assistant GM Bill Zito used to be John Madden's agent back in the day.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) August 29, 2016
The Monsters look to have a very strong team again and should be right back in the mix for the Calder Cup. Madden doesn’t have time to sit back and get comfortable in his new job, training camps are just around the corner.
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