The Florida Panthers have finalized their coaching staff for the 2014-15 season by adding two new assistants to join first-year head coach Gerard Gallant, goaltending coach Robb Tallas, and holdover assistant John Madden. The new hires are Mark Morris, who spent the last eight season coaching the American Hockey League’s Manchester Monarchs, and former Saint John Sea Dogs head coach and general manger, Mike Kelly.
Morris, a former minor-league defenseman for the New Haven Nighthawks and Dallas Black Hawks, racked up a 338-224-66 regular season record with the Monarchs and was also the head man for thirteen years at Clarkson University prior to making the leap to the AHL.
Kelly worked alongside Gerard Gallant, as director of hockey operations, for three seasons, which included two QMJHL championships and a Memorial Cup title in 2011, at Saint John and then took over as the team’s bench boss and general manger when Gallant left to take an assistant coaching job with the Montreal Canadiens. Before his time with the Sea Dogs, Kelly was an assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks and has extensive experience coaching in the OHL, as well some time in the AHL, and a few stints with the Canadian National Team at the junior level.
With the staff now rounded out, Brian Skrudland will return to his post as the club’s director of player development.