The Calder Cup Playoffs are down to four teams. Along with some of the game’s top prospects, those four American Hockey League teams also have top coaching talent.
The Eastern Conference Finals will feature Hershey (Washington Capitals) and Cleveland (Columbus Blue Jackets) with Game 1 on Thursday. Coachella Valley (Seattle Kraken) opened the Western Conference Finals with a 2-1 victory against Milwaukee (Nashville Predators) on Wednesday, a rematch of the 2023 series won by the Kraken affiliate.
Each series is best-of-7. All four teams won their respect regular-season division titles.
Here is a look at coaches for each team.
Dan Bylsma, Coachella Valley
Bylsma is wrapping up his second and final season with Coachella Valley after the Kraken named him their new coach to replace Dave Hakstol on Tuesday.
It has been a long path back to the NHL for Bylsma, who led the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres for eight seasons. He started his tenure in the Penguins organization as an assistant and coach of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before his promotion to the NHL midway through the 2008-09 season. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup that season, and Bylsma won the 2011 Jack Adams Award voted as the best coach in the League.
He is 320-190-55 in 565 NHL games and coached the United States at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
After three seasons as a Detroit Red Wings assistant, Bylsma joined the Kraken organization in 2021. He was an assistant with Charlotte as part of a dual affiliation with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22 and named Coachella Valley coach when it was established as Seattle’s AHL affiliate for the 2022-23 season.
Coachella Valley was 94-32-11-7 in the regular season under Bylsma. He will remain with the team for the rest of the Calder Cup Playoffs before moving to the Kraken.
Notable past and present prospects: Joey Daccord, goalie; Ryker Evans, defenseman; Shane Wright, forward
Todd Nelson, Hershey
Nelson also has NHL coaching experience. He was interim coach of the Edmonton Oilers for 46 games (17-22-7) in 2014-15 after an in-season promotion from assistant and a Dallas Stars assistant for four seasons before the Capitals named his Hershey coach Aug. 11, 2022. He also was an assistant for two seasons with the Atlanta Thrashers.
Nelson is a four-time Calder Cup winner. He won the 2023 championship with Hershey, won the Cup as a player with Portland in 1994, an assistant with Chicago in 2008, and coach of Grand Rapids in 2017. He was named the AHL coach of the year after Hershey went 53-14-5-0; its .771 points percentage the best in team history and second-best in AHL history. Nelson also had 12 players move on to the Capitals in his second season with Hershey.
A direct communicator, he works to cultivate a family-like culture.
Notable past and present prospects: Clay Stevenson, goalie; Hendrix Lapierre, forward; Beck Malenstyn, forward; Connor McMichael, forward; Ivan Miroshnichenko, forward; Aliaksei Protas, forward.
Karl Taylor, Milwaukee
He’s built a reputation as a coach who can carry his team through high-pressure situations. Milwaukee is 12-3 when facing playoff elimination, including 4-0 this postseason, during his tenure. Predators general manager Barry Trotz told The Tennessean in June 2023 that Taylor was a finalist for the Nashville coaching job that eventually went to Andrew Brunette.
Taylor returned to Milwaukee for his fifth season. He was also an assistant in Milwaukee and Chicago for five seasons. His coaching background includes roles in the ECHL, Western Hockey League and at the Canadian university level.
Milwaukee won 19 consecutive games this season, the second-longest run in AHL history.
Notable past and present prospects: Yaroslav Askarov, goalie; Connor Ingram, goalie; Spencer Stastney, defenseman; Egor Afanasyev, forward; Alexandre Carrier, forward; Frederick Gaudreau, forward; Cody Glass, forward; Mark Jankowski, forward; Tanner Jeannot, forward; Michael McCarron, forward; Mathieu Olivier, forward; Juuso Parssinen, forward; Kiefer Sherwood, forward; Cole Smith, forward; Eeli Tolvanen, forward; Philip Tomasino, forward; Yakov Trenin, forward.
Trent Vogelhuber, Cleveland
The 35-year-old is the youngest coach in this group.
Vogelhuber’s ties to Ohio hockey and the Blue Jackets are deep. The Dublin, Ohio, native won the Calder Cup with Lake Erie (now Cleveland) in 2016 and played seven seasons in the AHL and ECHL. He became the first Columbus-area player to be chosen in the NHL Draft when the Blue Jackets selected him in the seventh round (No. 211) of the 2007 NHL Draft held at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
He played four NCAA seasons at Miami-Ohio before turning pro in 2012. After retiring as a player, he was an assistant in Cleveland for four seasons before the Blue Jackets named him coach in June 2022. Vogelhuber has helped build a winning culture that the Blue Jackets hope can carry to Columbus.
Notable past and present prospects: Jet Greaves, goalie; Jake Christiansen, defenseman; David Jiricek, defenseman; Trey Fix-Wolansky, forward.
