It appears that the Capitals could have a new look behind the bench next season as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes is reporting that current Caps assistant coach Scott Arniel is a finalist for the Winnipeg Jets head coaching job.
A report from The Athletic’s Murat Ates in late May claimed that Arniel was a “virtual lock” to join the Jets staff. At the time that report had him most likely arriving as an associate coach, but that idea could have changed after Barry Trotz turned down the Jets head coaching job just a week ago.
**Keep an eye 👁 on **
Sources tell me as of today the @NHLJets HC candidates are down to ; Scott Arniel, Rick Tocchet, Jim Montgomery, Jeff Blashill, and Pascal Vincent. @espn @NHL #HockeyTwitter— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) June 30, 2022
The 59-year-old Arniel was in charge of the Capitals’ 12th-ranked penalty kill (80.4 percent) that did not give up a single power-play goal during the team’s first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers (0-18).
Arniel was first hired by the Capitals to join Todd Reirden’s staff in 2018-19 after spending five years as an associate coach with the New York Rangers. Arniel remained with the Capitals after Reirden was fired in 2020 and replaced by Peter Laviolette.
“I thought Scott Arniel did a terrific job with the penalty kill last year, assisting with the forwards, working with the skill level of the individual players from a forward standpoint and I didn’t see a need to make a change,” Laviolette said then per NBC Sports Washington. “He’s been a head coach, he has a lot of experience. I spoke with coaches that he worked with before and they all had good things to say about him. I knew Scott a little bit from when I played and I am really looking forward to working with him.”
The news is unsurprising in part due to the earlier report from May but also because Arniel has extensive ties to the Jets and the Winnipeg area. As a player, he played parts of six NHL seasons in Winnipeg. Later, he was hired as the head coach of their AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose where he stayed from 2006 to 2010. In those seasons coaching in the AHL, he helped the Moose win two division championships, one conference championship, and finish with the top record in the league for the 2008-09 season. He and his family live in Winnipeg over the offseason and have ties to the current Jets ownership.
The other candidates that Weekes listed include former Capitals winger Rick Tocchet who previously called the shots for the Tampa Bay Lightning (2008-2010) and Arizona Coyotes (2017-2021), current St. Louis Blues assistant Jim Montgomery who previously manned the Dallas Stars for parts of two seasons (2018-2020), Jeff Blashill who has coached the Detroit Red Wings for the past seven seasons, and current Columbus Blue Jackets assistant coach Pascal Vincent.
Vincent is the only option other than Arniel with prior direct ties to the organization. He served as an assistant under both Claude Noel and Paul Maurice from 2011 to 2016. He then moved to the Moose where he took the AHL reins for five seasons before departing for Ohio.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
