Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson is one of the best bench bosses currently outside the NHL. He’s also weeks removed from being named the AHL’s Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award winner as the league’s most outstanding head coach — a first for a coach who has essentially won it all in the American League.
Despite his gaudy numbers and many individual successes, Nelson revealed on Wednesday after practice that he has not gotten any calls about open head coaching gigs in the NHL.
Six head coaching spots are presently open at the NHL level with the New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets.
“I haven’t heard anything and I’m not holding my breath,” Nelson said per Chocolate Hockey. “I’ve been down this road many times. I’m just focused on the task at hand. Whatever happens, happens. I like it here, you know? Focusing on trying to win another Calder Cup.”
Nelson led Hershey to a regular-season title and broke numerous club records along the way as the team finished with a 53-14-0-5 record during the 2023-24 season — the best winning percentage in franchise history.
Twelve different Bears players under Nelson’s watch graduated to the NHL this season with the Washington Capitals.
Nelson has a 97-33-5-9 record during his two seasons with Hershey — a .722 points percentage. Nelson also ranks eighth on the AHL’s all-time wins list posting a 406-222-77 record during his 10 seasons in the league. He led the Grand Rapids Griffins (2017) and Bears (2023) to Calder Cup championships. As an assistant coach, he was a part of Chicago’s Cup-winning team in 2008 and won a title with the 1993-94 Portland Pirates as a player.
Before arriving in Hershey, Nelson served as an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars, who reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2020. With Dallas, he served under current Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery and eventually the recently retired Rick Bowness.
Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Nelson could be an option to replace Bowness with the Winnipeg Jets. The NHL insider says Nelson has ties to Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff from their days with the Chicago Wolves.
“Somebody just said to me, do not count out at least them talking to Todd Nelson,” Friedman said.
Nelson was briefly a head coach in the NHL previously with the Edmonton Oilers, replacing Dallas Eakins midseason during the 2014-15 campaign.
Among the prestigious winners of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award include former and current NHL head coaches Marc Crawford (1993), Barry Trotz (1994), Robbie Ftorek (1995, ‘96), Peter Laviolette (1999), Claude Julien (2003), Claude Noel (2004), Randy Cunneyworth (2005), Kevin Dineen (2006), Scott Gordon (2008), Scott Arniel (2009), John Hynes (2011), Jon Cooper (2012), Jeff Blashill (2014), and Spencer Carbery (2021).
Mitch Love, who won the award in back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023, is currently an assistant coach under Carbery in Washington.
