The Tampa Bay Lightning have promoted from within, naming Jeff Halpern an assistant coach. Halpern had been working with the Syracuse Crunch staff and will be starting his first coaching job in the NHL. The former Lightning forward retired in 2014.
Halpern, 42, was never an outstanding offensive player in the NHL, but nevertheless carved out a 976-game NHL career and was even named captain of the Washington Capitals for a season coming out of the lockout. Respected for his work ethic and responsible defensive play, he was quickly welcomed back into the Lightning organization after retirement and named full-time assistant coach for the Crunch in 2016.
Not only will Halpern bring a wealth of NHL experience to the bench beside Jon Cooper, but his familiarity with the prospect development side of the organization will only help the NHL club utilize their young players to the fullest. Though Tampa Bay is led by a core of veteran players, they also have names like Mikhail Sergachev, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli all expected to play big roles going forward.