Blues Hire Greg Cronin, Vinny Prospal As Assistant Coaches

The St. Louis Blues have added more head coaching experience to their bench. The club hired Greg Cronin and Vaclav Prospal to assistant coach roles on Jim Montgomery‘s bench. The duo will replace the departing Claude Julien and Mike Weber. St. Louis has also promoted Elliott Mondou from video coach to assistant to the general manager and hired Jeremy Coupal to backfill his role per NHL.com’s Lou Korac.

Cronin will leave a one-year stop with the AHL’s Iowa Wild in this return to the NHL. Iowa struggled in his sole season, posting a 27-36-9 record and missing the postseason. Before his minor-league stint, Cronin had spent two seasons with the Anaheim Ducks in what was his first NHL head coach role. The Ducks also failed to break into the postseason under Cronin’s helm, though he did oversee the emergence of young stars Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish, and Leo Carlsson.

Cronin grew deep roots in the hockey world before pro head coach roles. He began his career as an assistant coach with Hockey East’s University of Maine 1988, just two years after he graduated. The assistant title stuck around through eight seasons, including a three-year stint at Colorado College, before he moved into Maine’s head coach role in 1996. Cronin landed his first pro role – as an assistant with the New York Islanders – three years later. He has sinc

He got his start as an assistant coach with Hockey East’s University of Maine in 1988. He turned over towards the head coach role in 1996. That kicked off a career that has spanned 10 years as an assistant coach, and one as an associate coach, in the NHL; five years as an AHL head coach; and six years as head coach of Northeastern University. He found his most success during a five-year run leading the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. The Eagles made the postseason in four years, but did not make it beyond the second realm, under Cronin’s guide.

Vaclav ‘Vinny’ Prospal’s path to the NHL bench has looked much different. He retired from a 16-year career in the NHL in 2013 with 765 points and 1,108 games to his name. Prospal was a career second-liner who brought an effective mix between bulky size and quick finesse. His best years came between 2002 and 2008. That span saw Prospal both 79-and-80 point seasons – career-highs for the career second-liner – and reach the Eastern Conference Finals with the 2008 Philadelphia Flyers.