New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury announced on Friday morning the appointment of Phil Housley as assistant coach and Michael Peca and Dan Muse as assistants.
They will support Peter Laviolette, who was hired as head coach on June 13.
Housley previously worked alongside Laviolette with the Predators from 2013 to 2017. In his senior year in Nashville, he helped the team reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in team history.
He was then promoted to coach the Buffalo Sabers, a position he held until 2019. He also served as an assistant with the Arizona Coyotes from 2019 to 2022.
Most recently, Housley led the United States to gold at the last World Junior Championships.
The American defenseman previously had a glorious career in the NHL, amassing 1,232 points in 1,495 games spread over 21 seasons. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015.
Muse was also Laviolette’s assistant in Nashville from 2017 to 2020.
For three years he was the head coach of the US national development program.
For Peca, this is his first job in the NHL. He spent the last two seasons in the American League as an assistant with the Rochester Americans, the Sabers’ academy.
The Toronto native, considered by many to be one of the best defensive forwards of the early 2000s, won the Selke Trophy twice.
In the 2022–23 season, the Rangers coaching staff consisted of Gerard Gallant, Mike Kelly and Gord Murphy.
Lambert finds Huska
In addition, the Calgary Flames announced the hiring of Dan Lambert and Marc Savard as assistant coaches.
Lambert is particularly familiar with new head coach Ryan Huska, with whom he began his coaching career with the Kelowna Rockets in the Junior League West in 2009-10.
After three years as an assistant at Huska, he was promoted to coach the Rockets. He won the championship in his debut season in 2014–2015.
The following year, he made the jump to the NHL as an assistant with the Buffalo Sabers. He then ran their American League affiliate in 2016-17. After two seasons at the helm of the Spokane Chiefs, he has been an assistant with the Predators for the past four years.
For his part, Savard began his coaching career by accepting an assistant role with the St. Louis Blues in 2019-2020.
For the past two seasons, the former forward has been the head coach of the Ontario Junior League’s Windsor Spitfires. His team reached the final in his first year.