Youngstown Phantoms Hire Nathan Paetsch As Head Coach

Earlier today, the United States Hockey League’s (USHL) Youngstown Phantoms announced the hiring of Nathan Paetsch as their new head coach, making him the seventh man in Phantoms history to hold the title.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Nathan and his family to Youngstown,” said Jason Deskins, President of Hockey Operations and Co-General Manager. “Nathan has spent his entire career around high-performance environments and understands what it takes to develop players for the next level. His experience in the NHL, AHL and Europe, combined with his player-development work in Buffalo and his time behind the bench in Rochester, gives him a unique perspective that will be extremely valuable to our players and our organization.”

Paetsch will be headed to Youngstown following a three-year stint in Rochester, where he served as an assistant coach for the Sabres’ AHL affiliate Rochester Americans. During his three seasons behind the bench, he helped develop the important names of the Sabres’ present and future, with players such as Noah Ostlund, Jiri Kulich, Konsta Helenius, and Radim Mrtka spending a notable amount of time with the club.

Before his role in Rochester, Paetsch was with the Sabres organization as a development coach from 2020-2023.

Even with all that, it’s a sound resume to put forth for the Youngstown head coaching role, but Paetsch’s time around professional hockey is much more extensive than his time spent in a staff position. A defenseman by trade, Paetsch played professionally from 2003 to 2020, a career that ran through the NHL, the AHL and Europe, and one that began with an unusual trip through the draft. The Washington Capitals took him in the second round, 58th overall, in 2001, but the two sides couldn’t reach a contract agreement, sending Paetsch back into the pool two years later. The Buffalo Sabres re-drafted him in the seventh round, 202nd overall, in 2003, making him one of the rare players to hear his name called twice.

He reached the NHL with Buffalo, appearing in 167 games between 2005 and 2010, the bulk of them with the Sabres before a 2010 trade to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and finished with 7 goals and 35 assists at the NHL level. The heart of his career, though, came in the AHL, where he won two Calder Cup championships with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2013 and 2017. The Saskatchewan native would then finish his professional playing career where it began, in Rochester, spending his last three years with the Americans until retiring in 2020. Paetsch finished his playing career with an impressive 870 professional games played.

Paetsch had the opportunity to address the media regarding the new position, stating, “I’d like to thank Murry Gunty and Bruce Zoldan for entrusting me with this opportunity. It is an honor to become the head coach of the Youngstown Phantoms. This organization has built a winning tradition and a reputation for developing outstanding young players. I look forward to working with our staff to build on that success and helping our players grow both on and off the ice.”

The Youngstown job is Paetsch’s first as a head coach, the next step in a climb that’s taken him from Buffalo’s development staff to an NHL affiliate’s bench and now a program of his own.