Legenday goaltending coach, Mitch Korn, has left the New York Islanders and found his way back to longtime friend and partner, Barry Trotz.
Wednesday, the Nashville Predators announced they hired the 66-year-old goaltender whisperer and visionary back to the organization for a second stint. Korn will serve as the team’s director of goaltending — the same job title he had with the Islanders.
Welcome back, Mitch! https://t.co/hSuxajYS0E
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) May 29, 2024
“I am incredibly excited to return to Nashville and the Predators organization,” Korn said in a statement. “I last worked here 10 years ago, so I am looking forward to re-connecting with all the people who are still part of the Predators family, and to meeting and working with all those who have come on board since. I’m most excited to again be working with Ben Vanderklok, who I hired as my assistant in 2009. He has done an amazing job during his time with the Predators, and we’ve maintained a strong friendship and working relationship in this industry. Along with Barry, Ben was instrumental in having me return to the place where my family and I made so many memories.”
Per the Predators, Korn’s roles and responsibilities will include:
oversee the organization’s entire goaltending department, including Goaltending Coach Ben Vanderklok, Goaltending Development Coach Jason Barron and European Development Coach and Scout Pekka Rinne; work directly and remotely with the team’s goaltenders and prospects in Nashville, Milwaukee and overseas; and be involved in the scouting of professional and amateur goaltenders.
“I’ve known and worked with Mitch for a long time, and we are happy to be welcoming back one of the great goaltending minds in the game of hockey,” Trotz said in a statement. “Mitch’s resume speaks for itself. He has an uncanny ability to communicate the language of goaltending to his players in a way that helps them easily understand how he is trying to make them better. With Mitch at the helm of an already impressive goaltending department that includes Ben, Jason and Pekka, I’m confident that our franchise’s longtime success at the position will continue to grow.”
Korn previously spent 16 years with Trotz in Nashville as the team’s first goaltending coach where he helped Pekka Rinne be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy twice. During his illustrious 33-year-career in the NHL which includes stints with Buffalo (1991-98), Nashville (1998-2014), Washington (2014-18) and the Islanders (2018-24), Korn’s goaltenders have won five Vezina Trophies, three William M. Jennings Trophies, and two Hart Trophies under his tutelage as either a coach or goaltending director.
Korn’s most successful student, Hockey Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek, won the Vezina Trophy four times (1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998) and the Hart Trophy twice (1997 and 1998) in Buffalo. Hasek is the only only goaltender in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy multiple times.
When Trotz left Nashville for Washington in 2014, Korn followed and the two won the 2018 Stanley Cup together. Korn helped Braden Holtby win the 2016 Vezina Trophy and the 2017 Jennings Trophy while leading the NHL in wins both years. Philipp Grubauer and Pheonix Copley were also two netminders that benefitted under Korn’s learning tree.
After the Capitals won a championship but Trotz asked out of his deal, Korn again followed the head coach to his next team, the New York Islanders, where he has served as a director of goaltending for six years — four of which came under Trotz and parts of two seasons under Lane Lambert.
Korn again worked his magic there, helping the goaltending battery of Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss take home the Jennings Trophy in 2019. Ilya Sorokin also finished second in Vezina Trophy voting in 2023 while Lehner came in third in 2019.
