Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden will be the coach of the Metropolitan Division at the 2020 All-Star Game. As the coach of the team with the highest points percentage in the division as of the new year, Reirden will serve as Metro coach for the second year in a row.
The other coaches that will participate in the All-Star Game include the Boston Bruins’ Bruce Cassidy (Atlantic Division), the St. Louis Blues’s Craig Berube (Central Division), and the Vegas Golden Knights’ Gerard Gallant (Pacific Division).
From the Caps:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 3, 2020
Todd Reirden to Coach Metropolitan Division in 2020 NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis
Reirden becomes the first head coach in Caps history to coach in multiple All-Star Games
ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Hockey League announced today that Capitals head coach Todd Reirden will serve as the head coach of the Metropolitan Division for the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend, which will be held Jan. 24-25 in St. Louis. Reirden will be joined by Bruce Cassidy of the Boston Bruins (Atlantic), Craig Berube of the St. Louis Blues (Central) and Gerard Gallant of the Vegas Golden Knights (Pacific).
Reirden, 48, is the first head coach in franchise history to coach in multiple All-Star Games (2019), one of nine active head coaches to coach multiple All-Star Games and one of three to do so consecutively (Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay; Todd McLellan, San Jose). Additionally, Reirden is one of three coaches in NHL history to coach the All-Star game twice within his first two career seasons as a head coach (Jimmy Skinner: 1954-55; Doug MacLean: 1996-97).
Reirden coached the Capitals to a NHL-best 27-9-5 record through the NHL’s midway mark this season. The Capitals were the only team in the NHL to not lose consecutive games in regulation until their 40th and 41st game of the season.
With a career coaching record of 75-35-13, Reirden has the highest point percentage of any active head coach with at least 20 career games coached and the second-highest point percentage in NHL history among coaches with at least 100 games coached (Tom Johnson: 142-43-23-0, .738 point percentage). Reirden recorded his 75th career win in his 121st career game, tied with Bruce Boudreau (2007-09) for the sixth-fewest games required to reach the mark in NHL history.
Last year, Reirden led the Metropolitan Division to a 10-5 win against the Central Division in the final of the 2019 NHL All Star Game, held in San Jose.
Under the All-Star selection process, the head coach of the team with the highest points percentage (points earned divided by total possible points) in each of the four divisions through games played Thursday, Jan. 2 – the halfway point of the regular season – will guide the respective All-Star rosters.
Headline photo: @NHL
