On Sunday, the Griffins announced what most fans saw coming from a mile away: head coach Ben Simon and three assistant coaches will not have their contracts renewed.
Assistant coaches Matt Macdonald, and Todd Krygier along with golatending development coach Brian Mahoney-Wilson are also on the way out. Assistant coach Mike Knuble is sticking around and I would assume he will be a candidate for next head coach of the Griffins. Back to Simon – he just finished up his fifth season with the Griffins. That’s a relatively long tenure.
Simon didn’t do a great job, but in his defense, goaltending was a killer for the Griffins – as it was for the Red Wings. Still though, the Griffins were among the three-worst teams in the Western Conference. That ain’t gonna cut it.
Griffins GM Shawn Horcoff will likely have plenty of good picks including Toledo Walleye head coach Dan Watson and Western Michigan University’s Pat Ferschweiler, among other names. This is going to be an important thing to watch because the Griffins are only getting younger. There’s a handful of high-end prospects that are likely to spend time in GR over the next couple of seasons. Leadership and fostering talent will be important for that coaching staff.
