Former NCAA Players Moving up NHL Ranks

Former NCAA players are moving up the NHL ranks in coaching and management.

Jim Montgomery (Maine), who led Maine to the 1993 national title as a forward and Denver to the 2017 NCAA crown as head coach, is the new bench boss of the Boston Bruins. He was serving as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues, after previously leading the Dallas Stars.

The Detroit Red Wings hired first-time NHL head coach Derek Lalonde (SUNY Cortland), who was most recently an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning, whom he helped to three consecutive Eastern Conference titles along with back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. He previously coached in college at Ferris State and Denver as an assistant, and as head coach with Green Bay (USHL), Toledo (ECHL) and Iowa (AHL).

Brian Wiseman (Michigan), who served as first a player and then an assistant coach at his alma mater, has joined the New York Islanders as an assistant, after three seasons in the same capacity with the Edmonton Oilers. He started his coaching career with one season as an assistant at Princeton.

Lastly, Mike Grier (Boston University), a member of the Terriers 1995 NCAA title team at forward, and a former New Jersey Devils assistant coach, has been named general manager of the San Jose Sharks, the first black GM in NHL history.