Reunited with Rutherford, Vellucci excited for opportunity as AHL Penguins' head coach
INSIDE AHL HOCKEY -- Recently hired Mike Vellucci, the new head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, spoke to reporters via conference call Saturday evening one day after Vellucci and the Carolina Hurricanes mutually agreed to part ways and his subsequent hiring as the AHL Penguins' bench boss.
The Penguins' previous AHL head coach, Clark Donatelli, resigned Thursday due to personal reasons according to Penguins' assistant GM Bill Guerin who spoke to media gathered at Penguins Development Camp in Pittsburgh Friday evening.
Vellucci was the Hurricanes' assistant GM and Director of Hockey Operations for the previous five years in addition to being their AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers' head coach the past two seasons.
Guerin added Friday that everything came together pretty quickly, and that the Penguins knew Vellucci was available.
Vellucci said Saturday evening via phone that he had conversations with Carolina - his contract was set to expire - and that they told him he could look elsewhere if he wanted to pursue other opportunities. He had a couple of opportunities he was mulling over before a last minute phone call from Jim Rutherford and Bill Guerin in Pittsburgh changed everything.
"It closed pretty quickly," Vellucci said after speaking with Rutherford and Guerin about the opening they had in Wilkes-Barre.
Reunited With Rutherford
Vellucci said he was excited to work with Rutherford again, who he is familiar with from his time with the Hurricanes prior to Rutherford's move to be the Penguins' general manager.
"Jim hired me 27 years ago," Vellucci explained. "I've known Jim for a long time and we stayed in contact over the years. It's a good relationship. Obviously he's a hall-of-famer now, won three Stanley Cups so anytime I can be around a guy like Jim and Billy Guerin, winners, that's exactly what I want to do," he said, adding he's excited to work with Guerin and that they are familiar with one another being that they were both assistant GM's in past seasons.
What can Penguins' fans can expect from Vellucci?
"I don't want to say I'm a players-coach, per se, but I listen to the guys - I take their input - and we work together toward one common goal," Vellucci said, adding, "As far as coaching, I like an aggressive style," adding it's going to be up to Penguins' head coach Mike Sullivan what kind of system the AHL Penguins will play - making note that in Carolina the NHL and AHL teams mimicked each other in terms of systems and approach.
If Vellucci's run to the Calder Cup Championship this spring with Charlotte is any indication, Penguins fans can expect an up-tempo and aggressive style team that's hard on the forecheck and maintains their gaps well through all three zones.
Vellucci also mentioned that Pens' assistant GM Bill Guerin "is working hard to surround the younger guys with some older players." It seems plausible that the Penguins will continue to bolster their AHL affiliate with some experienced depth.
It'll be interesting to see if Vellucci has any pull with any of his former players he coached in Charlotte and can bring them to the Penguins organization. AHL Playoff MVP Andrew Poturalski wouldn't be a bad pickup for the AHL club.
In the meantime, Vellucci seemed eager to dive right in and get to know more about the players he's going to be coaching in the AHL this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
"I'm going to have to get in there and get a read on the guys - their ages, experience - I've looked over the roster talked to [Guerin] about it already," Vellucci explained. "I've been developing players a long time so I know what the young kids are looking for. They're looking for feedback, they're looking for encouragement and for structure. I'm familiar with that age group, and they want structure and they want communication to be on the same page with their coach. I think that's the biggest key for me is to be able to assess where we are and look forward to working with them and helping them get better every day."
Cutting Ties With The Hurricanes
When asked about the decision to leave the Hurricanes organization after 27 years, Vellucci said "It's never easy. I was there 27 years with the same owner and ownership. I've been a loyal person my whole life so it was tough to leave," continuing, "It makes it probably a little bit easier because we did win a championship and we did so much there in Charlotte. We developed a lot of guys - I think we had 11 guys called up this year - and the Canes' run to the Eastern Conference Finals and seeing those guys called up that either stayed up or came back down and did a great job. I'm just happy that I was able to bring a championship to Charlotte - their first one ever - and for the city of Charlotte."
When further asked why the Hurricanes were so willing to let Vellucci pursue other opportunities, he responded that that would be a question for them.
"I talked to Don a few times and didn't feel like it was really going anywhere, so I had an agent put some feelers out with other organizations and had a few opportunities and met with them. This one came about really quick and was too good of an opportunity to pass up."
NHL Aspirations?
The initial speculation when the news broke that Mike Vellucci and the Carolina Hurricanes had mutually agreed to part ways was that Vellucci was assuredly be taking an NHL job somewhere, and while that's not currently the case --he'll be the AHL Penguins' head coach to begin the 2019-20 season -- Vellucci didn't deny that he doesn't want to be an AHL head coach forever either.
"Yeah that's everyone's goal - to get to the highest league," Vellucci told Inside AHL Hockey when asked about the Penguins organization's track record for developing not only players but its coaches. "Yeah, I mean some day I would like to be an NHL coach and do that, but my job now is to develop the young guys in Wilkes-Barre and I'm really excited to start to that process. Play it one day at a time, and if things come then you take a look at it but obviously I'm excited to start here and try to win a championship."
