Ex-Canucks coach Trent Cull finds new home in Flames organization
The Calgary Flames have a new head coach for their AHL team, hiring a former Vancouver Canucks assistant coach.
Trent Cull has been named head coach of the Calgary Wranglers, after a rather short stint as Bruce Boudreau’s assistant in Vancouver last season.
“I’m very excited to join the Flames organization and just as excited about making the move to such an amazing city,” Cull said in a media release. “The immediate success of the Wranglers shows Calgary’s passion for hockey and the Flames. We have great young prospects who know there is opportunity here and I look forward to helping them along their path to the NHL.”
The 49-year-old bench boss coached Vancouver’s AHL affiliate for five seasons, four years in Utica and one year in Abbotsford, compiling a 161-116-32 record. He got the call to work alongside Boudreau last summer, but was fired in January at the same time as the head coach as the team had a disappointing 18-25-3 record.
Prior to joining the Canucks organization, Cull had two four-year stints as an assistant coach with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL and a three-year run as head coach of the AHL’s Sudbury Wolves. The former minor league defenceman got his coaching start as an assistant with the Guelph Storm in 2004.
Cull takes over from Mitch Love, who enjoyed a large amount of success with Calgary’s AHL club over two seasons, compiling a combined 96-33-11 record. Love moved on from the Flames after he lost out to Ryan Huska for the job to replace Darryl Sutter as head coach. He’s now an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals.
“We are pleased to welcome Trent to the Flames family as the head coach of the Calgary Wranglers,” said Flames VP and assistant GM Brad Pascall. “He provides significant head coaching experience and 19 years behind the bench in total with the OHL, AHL and most recently the NHL. Trent understands the development role of coaching in the AHL and has had success progressing many young players’ journey to the NHL.”
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