Now that the NHL has officially agreed to go to the 2022 Winter Olympics, work can start on selecting the rosters. Just a few hours after news broke about NHL participation, USA Hockey introduced the full coaching staff that will travel to Beijing. It had already been announced that Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins will serve as head coach. He will be joined by John Hynes, David Quinn, Todd Reirden and Ryan Miller.
U.S. Olympic team general manager Stan Bowman released a statement on the staff:
"We’ve got a great coaching staff in place. It’s a group that knows what it takes to be successful, and through their unique and varied backgrounds will help put our team in the best position to win the gold medal."
Hynes, who is also the head coach of the Nashville Predators, will serve as an assistant and was an obvious addition. He has a long track record with the program, including being part of gold medal-winning efforts at the U18 and U20 World Juniors. Hynes was the head coach of the 2016 World Championship squad, an assistant at the 2016 World Cup and an assistant at the 2019 World Championship. He also spent several seasons as the head coach of the National Team Development Program.
Many of the same things could be said about Quinn, who will also serve as an assistant on Sullivan’s staff. He has been an assistant several times at the World Championship and was in the NTDP at the same time as Hynes. Quinn was previously head coach of the New York Rangers for three seasons and was an extremely successful college coach.
Reirden will bring a certain level of familiarity for Sullivan, given he serves as an assistant with the Penguins already. He actually has not made an appearance coaching internationally in the past, which makes this appointment somewhat surprising. Not many coaches get a chance to step right into the Olympics, but that’s what Reirden, a Stanley Cup-winning assistant with the Washington Capitals, will do next spring.
Even more impressive is Miller, who not only is going to the Olympics as an assistant coach for the first time, but it is his first experience as a coach at any level. The veteran goaltender only announced his retirement earlier this year after a long, successful career that included two Olympic performances as a player. He won the silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
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