Arizona Coyotes insider Craig Morgan is reporting that the team is expected to announce Andre Tourigny as the franchise’s next head coach on Thursday. The team has scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. local time and will make the hiring official then.
While it will be Tourigny’s first NHL head-coaching job, it’s not his first time working in the league. Tourigny’s been an active coach since 1998, serving as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche from 2013-2015 and with the Ottawa Senators in 2015-16.
Since then, Tourigny has been the head coach and vice president of hockey operations for the OHL’s Ottawa 67s, in which he’s seen great success. He’s coached recent highly touted prospects such as Marco Rossi and Jack Quinn en route to being one of the best teams in the league. He also served as the head coach for Canada’s U20 team at the World Juniors this year, winning a silver medal to add to his trophy case.
The Coyotes hope that a shift behind the bench can help propel the team to success sooner rather than later. Inconsistency on and off the ice has plagued the Coyotes for more than a decade now, and they’ve made the playoffs only once since 2012. It may be a very different-looking team next year too, as forward Conor Garland finds himself in trade rumors. Tourigny will work to rehabilitate a roster that’s had a concerning lack of offense, and he’ll try to get more out of important players like Clayton Keller and Phil Kessel. A system more beneficial to Arizona’s offensively inclined players could unlock the next level for this team, something they’re hoping the Tourigny hire will do. He’ll be the Coyotes' seventh head coach since they relocated from Winnipeg in 1996.
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