Coyotes Fire AHL Front Office, Coaching Staff
It seems like the Arizona Coyotes want a complete fresh start with their new AHL affiliate in Springfield.
The Coyotes have fired their entire coaching staff for the AHL level along with their general manager according to Pro Hockey Talk. The Coyotes are moving their American Hockey League operation from Portland, Maine to Springfield, Massachusetts for the 2015-2016 season.
The Falcons will not have coaches Ray Edwards, Trent Whitfield, or John Slaney at the helm any longer. Edwards had also been the GM of the club when they were in Portland. He even had been with the organization since they had been in San Antonio as the Rampage before they had moved to Maine.
“Ray is a good man,” said Pirates Chief Operating Officer Brad Church in a statement in the Maine Hockey Journal. “I’d been hands on for the last season and a half and I thought as GM he did a good job on surrounding the prospects with quality character veterans and put together a competitive team with what he was given by the Coyotes.”
The Coyotes AHL future even in Springfield is somewhat shaky. It took them a long time to move from Portland, which they have wanted to do for some time. They had wanted initially to return to San Antonio but they also would like to own their minor league team at some point. Since the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs own the Rampage, that would have been nearly impossible.
They ended up with the Falcons, who had been the affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and they believe that they can buy that franchise eventually. The reason they want to buy a team of their own is they want to have a club closer to them in Arizona, and potentially a part of the AHL’s new Pacific Division down the road.
Until then, they are in Springfield and they will be in the market for a new coaching staff and general manager. Slaney and Whitfield were former NHL players. It was Whitfield’s first attempt at coaching after playing as recently as 2013 with the Boston and Providence Bruins. The Coyotes could see plenty more changes at their AHL and NHL level front offices; Pro Hockey Talk reports that the Coyotes goalie coach and assistant general manager Sean Burke is interviewing with several teams. It has also been reported that former Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier could take over as the Falcons GM and has already been working with the team.