The Calgary Flames hired Rebecca Johnston onto their staff in a player development role.
Johnston will join the Flames as part of the player development team, with the specific focus of prospect evaluations and on-ice instructions. She’ll also work with the Flames Foundation in grassroots programs, aiming to grow the game of hockey in the Calgary community. This will be Johnston’s first off-ice hockey gig of note.
Johnston took to Twitter after the Flames announcement of her hiring, quote tweeting the post and saying, “Can’t wait to get started!“
Johnston comes with an illustrious career to back up her knowledge of the game and will make for another strong mind on a staff led by the reigning Jack Adams winner Darryl Sutter. She spent six seasons in the CWHL before it folded, with 51 goals, 78 assists and 129 points in 99 games with the Toronto Furies and Calgary Inferno. She also dominated at the international level with the Canadian team, including 22 goals, 24 assists and 46 points in 56 games in the Women’s World Championships across 10 tournaments and eight goals, 18 assists and 26 points in 22 games at the Olympics across four tournaments, including 10 points in seven games at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She also has plenty of medals to her name, with three gold medals and one silver at the Olympics and two gold, seven silver and one bronze at the World Championships.
She joins a Flames team that has seen significant turnover this offseason in terms of the roster. They lost two of their best players in Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk but managed to soften the blow by replacing them with Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar, who both came in the trade for Tkachuk, as well as signing Nazem Kadri in free agency.
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