After just one season leading the team, Mike Vellucci has followed the path of many other Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coaches, heading to work for parent club Pittsburgh.
Times Leader file photo
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The Pittsburgh Penguins will now have three former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coaches behind their bench.
And that means the AHL team will have another new boss for next season.
Mike Vellucci, who spent one season as coach and general manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, is headed up to the parent club. The Penguins announced Wednesday morning that Vellucci would work with two of his predecessors as an assistant coach in Pittsburgh.
Two-time Stanley Cup winner Mike Sullivan remains as Pittsburgh’s head coach while Vellucci and Todd Reirden will be his new top assistants. The organization opted to overhaul the staff after last month’s early exit in the playoff qualifying round in the Toronto bubble, parting ways with Jacques Martin, Mark Recchi and Sergei Gonchar.
“I am pleased to add Todd and Mike to our coaching staff, and believe they will complement Mike Sullivan’s coaching style,” Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford said through the team. “Todd is a Stanley Cup winning coach with a decade of NHL experience as both an assistant and head coach. Mike brings championship experience at both the AHL and OHL level, and is very familiar with how we function as an organization.”
Vellucci will work with forwards and oversee the penalty kill unit in Pittsburgh.
“When I first came here, my whole goal was to develop and win another championship in Wilkes,” Vellucci said on a call with media in Pittsburgh. “So this was a little surprising. But obviously very excited to work with Mike and Todd. My family and myself, we’re very excited for it.”
For Vellucci, who started his coaching career in 1994, it will be his first time behind an NHL bench.
“It means a lot,” he said. “Sharing the news with my family, my mom and dad are 80 years old, so it was exciting to tell them. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but was never in a rush. It’s a life thing. Everyone thinks it’s a sprint, but it’s more of a marathon.
“I’m not going to take it for granted that I’m in the NHL. I want to be the best forward coach and penalty kill coach in the league. I’m just excited to have the opportunity to coach some of the best players in the world.”
Vellucci, 54, came to the organization last summer to replace Clark Donatelli after leading the Charlotte Checkers to the 2019 Calder Cup. Not long after, he was also named Wilkes-Barre/Scranton general manager after Pittsburgh assistant GM Bill Guerin left to take over the Minnesota Wild.
The transition for Vellucci should be aided by working with two coaches who made the same jump.
Sullivan coached Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for just 23 games in 2015 before being promoted to lead Pittsburgh in December of that year. The team went on to win the Stanley Cup that season and the next.
Reirden had been the AHL head coach in 2009, taking over midseason after Dan Bylsma went up to Pittsburgh. Reirden led the franchise for 106 games before taking his first stint as an assistant in Pittsburgh in 2010. He later became an assistant with the Washington Capitals, winning the Stanley Cup in 2018 and then taking over as head coach a few months later. The Capitals fired him last month after two straight first-round exits in the playoffs.
“Jim and I went through a pretty extensive process to try to find the right fits for our staff,” Sullivan said. “We just feel strongly that these guys are a great fit. They are really good coaches first and foremost. They have a wealth of experience in a lot of different capacities. They know what it takes to win a championship.”
Vellucci’s first season overseeing things at Mohegan Sun Arena ended abruptly because of the coronavirus pandemic. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was 29-26-3-5 in 63 games under Vellucci when the AHL was forced to cancel the 2019-20 season.
Now Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will be looking for the 12th coach in team history, a search that Pittsburgh said has already begun.
It’s a familiar position for the club. This is the fifth time Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s head coach has been promoted to Pittsburgh, following Michel Therrien (2005), Bylsma (2009), Reirden (2010, as an assistant) and Sullivan (2015).
In addition, John Hynes left the team to become head coach of the New Jersey Devils in 2015. Another, Todd Richards, became head coach in Minnesota within a year of leaving the AHL Penguins.
That’s a big reason the job has been a coveted one in coaching circles, a factor that helped bring in Vellucci shortly after winning the Calder Cup.
Pittsburgh still has some time to find a replacement. Because of the pandemic, the AHL has set an “anticipated start” to the 2020-21 season for Dec. 4, though that could depend on the ongoing public health situation. AHL teams depend on ticket sales and fan-related revenue, and Pennsylvania remains under a coronavirus-related restriction that limits indoor gatherings to 25 people.
The new coach will be looking to guide the Penguins back to the playoffs after their streak of 16 straight postseason appearances was snapped in 2019. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was again outside the playoff picture this year when the season was canceled.
And though not mentioned explicitly by the team, Pittsburgh must also find a new person to serve as AHL general manager. Vellucci’s past experience in that dual role helped him take over on short notice, as Guerin’s departure came close to the start of last season.
The Penguins will also need a new captain after defenseman David Warsofsky was traded to Toronto last week.