Coyotes promote Lee Stempniak to director of player development

The Arizona Coyotes have promoted long-time NHL forward Lee Stempniak to director of player development, after he joined the front office last year as a hockey data strategist.

General manager Bill Armstrong released the following:

We are very pleased to name Lee as our new director of player development. Lee was a hard-working player who had a very good career. He understands what it takes to get to the NHL and we are confident that he will do an excellent job developing our players.

Stempniak, 39, ended his playing career in 2019 after more than 900 games at the NHL level, including parts of two seasons with the Coyotes. A deadline swap seemingly every year, he played on ten different squads over his 14-year career, most notably with the St. Louis Blues, where he reached a career-high 52 points in 2006-07.

In his new role, he will oversee the development of the team’s drafted prospects, along with those in the minor league system.