The Calgary Flames head coaching search continues to cast a wide net. In addition to the expected cohort of Ryan Huska, Mitch Love and co., a new name has appeared in the mix. Todd Reirden is now apparently another candidate the Flame are looking at.
Flames reported to be looking at Todd Reirden for head coach
On Wednesday’s 32 Thoughts episode, Elliotte Friedman went through where he thinks that the coaching search stands and threw in an interesting candidate to the mix:
“I don’t know this for sure, but here’s who I think some of the group is. I think Ryan Huska is still there, I think Mitch Love is still there, I think Travis Green is still there and one other person I’ve heard there is Todd Reirden.
If you’ll remember Jeff in one of their previous coaching searches, Todd Reirden was a finalist. When I heard that while I was traveling on the other day, it made sense to me because I think Travis Green got a serious look from them a few years ago too. What that kind of says to me is Craig Conroy is going through some of their previous history of coaching interviews and saying: ‘well we liked that guy back then, let’s re-look at it here.’
So for the guys I think are in the mix, I admit I could be wrong, but this is my educated guess is Huska, Love, Green, and Reirden. If there is anyone else, I don’t know, but I heard Reirden was spoken to recently and I just think that is the potential group they could be picking from, but I freely admit that there are people there I may not be seeing.”
– Elliotte Friedman, 32 Thoughts the Podcast
Who is Todd Reirden?
Reirden is a fascinating name to be included in the mix for the Flames head coaching position, mainly because this is the first time that his name has popped up this time around. His coaching career has taken him from the HC job in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, to an assistant with Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. He was promoted to the head coach of the Capitals the season after they won their first Stanley Cup, before being relieved of his duties two seasons later after two straight first round playoff exits. He currently serves as the associate coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he has been the last three seasons.
It’s clear that Conroy is taking a look back at interviews that he was a part of and showing that he may have gone a different way than Brad Treliving would have. It’s not a foregone conclusion that Reirdren, or even Green, is the guy that the team is going with, but there is a sense of familiarity there for the organization.
Reirden was applauded on the podcast episode for turning around Cody Ceci’s career, and has strong ties to revitalizing players trajectories. Could the Flames look to have him fill out an assistant role instead? If the team is looking to hire internally for a first time head coach position like Huska or Love, perhaps they want to further add experience in the assistant roles.
The saga for the next Flames head coach continues.
Calgary Flames 2023 Head Coach Candidate Profiles
June 12, 2023 Update: Ryan Huska has been named head coach of the Calgary Flames! Check out Huska’s coaching profile for more information on him.
Here are past individual profiles on all the potential head coaches the Flames should or shouldn’t have considered for the new job:
Gerard Gallant | Mitch Love | Bruce Boudreau | Marc Savard | Pascal Vincent | Andrew Brunette
