Oates completes staff with his former coach
Tim Hunter has spent 13 of the last 14 NHL seasons behind a bench as an assistant coach. He played the game for 16 seasons, has been hired and fired three times and has seen virtually everything the league has to offer.
That experience made him the ideal choice to complete the Capitals’ coaching staff. On Monday, the organization hired Hunter to join Adam Oates’ staff — 15 years to the day since general manager George McPhee gave him his start as an NHL assistant with Washington.
Hunter, who last worked for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2010-11, will try to complement Oates, just a three-year assistant coach in the NHL before the Caps hired him last month, and fellow assistant Calle Johansson, who has never coached in the NHL.
“Every organization needs experience, whether it’s in management, scouting, with the players,” said Hunter, who’s not related to former Caps coach Dale Hunter. “It’s the same with coaching. You need experience on a coaching staff. I talked to [Oates] early on, and he was looking for someone with experience, and I definitely have that. I’m a career assistant coach, and I’m looking forward to helping Adam and Calle become better coaches and the Caps to become a better team.”
The 51-year-old took a break from the NHL last season after he was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in June 2011. Hunter spent the year coaching midget hockey at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C. But he has coached in 1,041 games as an assistant at the NHL level. Hunter was part of Ron Wilson’s staff in 1997-98 that helped guide the Caps — with Oates, Johansson and associate goalie coach Olie Kolzig as key players — to the Stanley Cup Finals. Hunter later followed Wilson to stops in San Jose, where they had great success, and Toronto, where they did not.
“[The Caps] have tremendous potential, and that’s our job to make sure they reach that potential,” Hunter said. “[There are] some exciting, talented players on defense and lots of talent up front. Making sure they come to the rink enjoying working hard and enjoying success is what our job will be.”
