Mondays seem to be the infamous news day around Calgary Flames land. Today didn’t disappoint in that regard, as the Calgary Wranglers announced their next head coach. The head coaching position was vacant due to Mitch Love taking an assistant coach position with the Washington Capitals. The Wranglers filled that position today by naming Trent Cull as the Wranglers head coach; Cull comes in as someone who has a variety of experience for the role.
Cull, 42, spent played hockey at the OHL, IHL, and AHL levels as a defenceman. Cull last played with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL in the 2003–04 season.
Trent Cull’s coaching career
Trent Cull started his coaching career with the Guelph Storm of the OHL in an assistant role. He took on this role in 2004–05, so taking an immediate jump from a player to a coaching role after his career. Cull spent two seasons with the Storm before joining the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL in an assistant coaching role. Cull spent four seasons with the Crunch, from 2006–07 to 2009–10.
After his time with the Crunch, Cull moved on to be the head coach of the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. He spent three seasons behind the bench with Sudbury; from the 2010–11 season to the 2012–13 season, before moving back to the Syracuse Crunch in an assistant coaching role. Cull remained with the Crunch from the 2013–14 to the 2016–17 season, losing in the AHL Calder Cup Final in his final season. After the 2016–17 season, Cull accepted a promotion as head coach of the AHL’s Utica Comets.
Cull stayed on as head coach with the Comets (who then were moved and became the Abbotsford Canucks) from the 2017–18 to the 2021–22 seasons. In the 2022–23 season, Cull received another promotion, this time heading behind the bench of an NHL team. Trent Cull was hired to join Bruce Boudreau’s staff as an assistant coach, with his duties being towards the defence. Unfortunately for Cull and Boudreau, they were fired mid-season, as the Canucks sought to go in a different direction, bringing in Rick Tocchet as head coach. The Canucks also brought Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar into the organization, trying to reform their defensive game and development.
Cull’s reviews from The Sports Aux
The Sports Aux, developed by former Stockton Heat defenceman Josh Healey, is a platform where players and coaches are rated by their colleagues. This helps the public gain a viewpoint on how peers and players view a coach, as they submit their rating anonymously. For reference, Darryl Sutter has a rating of 2.8 (not surprising), while Ryan Huska and Mitch Love have ratings of 8.1 and 9.9, respectively.
Trent Cull has a rating of 8.9. Here are two reviews from players he coached:
One player from 2021 gave him a 9.7 rating and said: “Great coach, gets the most out of his players. Can be tough on you at times to make you a better player. Develops great relationships with his players.” Another player agreed with this notion.
Then more recently, another player gave him an 8.2 rating and had this to say: “Can be tough on you at times but that’s because he knows what it takes to get to that next level. He draws the line at work, then after will be your friend and build a personal relationship.”
Cull is a defensively minded coach, having played the position and coached it for many years. He should be able to help Jeremie Poirier, Ilya Solovyov, and Yan Kuznetsov continue to develop in the AHL next year and hopefully become Calgary Flames in future years. His development with the Utica Comets isn’t looked at highly by Canucks fans, so we will have to see how it goes. And hey, why not add another person who used to be with the Vancouver Canucks, to keep the Calgary Canucks moniker from Canucks fans alive.
Welcome to Calgary, Trent!
Photo via @theAHL on Twitter
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