Don Granato to join Blue Jackets as assistant coach
A familiar name is returning to the bench in the NHL, just in a different capacity.
According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to hire Don Granato as an assistant coach.
#CBJ will hire veteran coach Don Granato to join Rick Bowness' staff as an asst. He joins Trent Vogelhuber and Jared Boll. Granato, 58, was most recently head coach during #Sabrehood rebuild. Previously an asst w STL, BUF, CHI, head at US NTDP. Former player/coach w C'bus Chill.
Granato will join the returning head coach Rick Bowness, alongside assistants Trent Vogelhuber and Jared Boll.
The last time fans saw Granato behind the bench in the NHL was with the rebuilding Buffalo Sabres. After a little over a season as an assistant coach, he was promoted to the head job in the middle of the 2021 season. after Ralph Krueger was fired. The Sabres failed to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs in all four seasons with him at the helm, though the team finished above .500 in each of his final two years with the club. During his time in Western New York, the Sabres went 122-125-27.
Since then, the 58-year-old has served as an analyst both on television and on radio. He was also the head coach for the United States at the IIHF Men’s World Championship this past spring, with the team losing to Canada in the quarterfinals.
Along with working in Buffalo, Granato has also served as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks under Joel Quenneville, and was an assistant with the St. Louis Blues in 2005-06, his first coaching gig in the NHL.
Granato has some ties to Columbus. His two years playing professional hockey came with the Columbus Chill of the ECHL from 1991 to 1993, on top of being the team’s head coach from 1997 to 1999.