Canucks hire Mike Yeo, Jeremy Colliton; Flyers hire Brad Shaw

The Canucks have filled out their coaching staff for next season. The team announced that they have hired Mike Yeo as an assistant coach. He takes over for Brad Shaw, who is leaving Vancouver to become an associate coach with the Flyers. Meanwhile, Vancouver has hired Jeremy Colliton as their new head coach with AHL Abbotsford, replacing Trent Cull, who has been promoted to an assistant coach in Vancouver. GM Patrik Allvin released the following statement about the moves:

"We’re pleased to have solidified our Coaching staff for next season with the promotion of Trent Cull and the additions of Mike Yeo and Jeremy Colliton. These individuals bring a lot of hockey experience and knowledge to the group. We would like to thank Brad Shaw for his contributions to the club and wish him the best of luck in Philadelphia."

Yeo most recently served as the interim head coach of the Flyers after taking over 22 games into this past season when he took over for Alain Vigneault. The 48-year-old also has head-coaching experience with Minnesota for parts of five seasons and also spent four years with St. Louis, three of those as head coach, so he will give head coach Bruce Boudreau some experience behind the bench.  Over Yeo’s head-coaching career, his teams have compiled a 263-217-62 record.

Yeo replaces Shaw in what basically amounts to a coaching trade, with Shaw taking Yeo’s old spot on Philadelphia’s bench alongside their new head coach John Tortorella. The 58-year-old has no shortage of coaching experience with 17 seasons under his belt, five of those coming with Columbus where he worked with Tortorella, so it’s not surprising that Shaw has decided to work with him again.

Colliton was Chicago’s head coach for parts of four seasons but was let go early in 2021-22. He then joined Hockey Canada for some of their international tournaments and briefly served as Canada’s head coach at the Olympics when Claude Julien was injured. This will be the 37-year-old’s second stint running an AHL bench, having been in charge of Chicago’s farm team in Rockford for parts of two seasons before getting the job with the Blackhawks. He takes the place of Trent Cull, who will get his first NHL coaching opportunity after spending 18 years between the OHL and AHL. He had been with Vancouver’s farm team for each of the last five seasons.