Just a few weeks after firing Ken Gernander as the Hartford Wolf Pack head coach, AGM Chris Drury and the New York Rangers have found a new man for the job. The team announced that Keith McCambridge will be the sixth head coach in the history of the team, promoted from his role as assistant last season. Drury was promoted to General Manager of the Wolf Pack at the same time as the firing, making this the first hire of his tenure.
McCambridge has several years of experience as a head coach in the AHL, previously working with the St. John’s IceCaps and Manitoba Moose. In 2013-14 he took the IceCaps all the way to the Calder Cup final, eventually losing to the Texas Stars. The long-time minor league player was drafted in the eighth round by the Calgary Flames, but never made it to the NHL.
The hiring is an interesting one, as the Wolf Pack finished dead last in the AHL this season. Many expected a new face to be brought in to give the team a fresh outlook, but instead they will promote from within and hope McCambridge can use his past experience to turn the team around. As always, AHL success is determined mostly by the players the NHL club provides for them, and with the Rangers not selecting a player in the first round for several years, the Wolf Pack have suffered.