Morning Flurries: Kendall Coyne-Schofield joins Chicago’s developmental staff

On Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks organization announced that Kendall Coyne-Schofield, former U.S. women’s national team captain, has been hired as a player development coach and youth hockey growth specialist. The organization also announced the promotion of Meghan Hunter to Director of Hockey Administration and amateur scout.

This news comes 10 days after Kim Ng was named general manager of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, becoming the first female GM of a North American major men’s professional sports franchise.

In this role, Kendall will be responsible for developing relationships with Chicago’s prospects, who are scattered across the globe, as well as providing in-depth scouting reports, breaking down film, and acting as an on-ice practice liaison to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.

Coyne-Schofield becomes only the second woman to become an NHL player development coach after the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Hayley Wickenheiser in the same role back in 2018.

Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman remarked that bringing these women onboard is a long overdue move and he is excited about the unique perspectives and experiences that they will bring to the table.

Congrats, Kendall and Meghan!

Here’s a bonus clip of Kendall ‘s guest appearance in the fastest skater competition at the 2019 NHL All-Star weekend in San Jose.

Spoiler: she’s fast.

In other way-less-exciting news, NHL.com is making their way through their 31 in 31 series, providing in-depth analysis of all 31 NHL teams from November 16^th to December 16^th. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen and NHL Network’s Mike Johnson provided their opinion of where the Avalanche organization sits as of today. Their take? Colorado is the best team in the Western Conference and it’s not as close as some might believe (sorry Vegas fans).

The saga of wondering when the NHL will return to play continues to drone on with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman believing a full, 82-game schedule with fans in the stands is in the realm of possibility. It would be amazing to get a full slate of games in; however, this seems unrealistically ambitious especially given (among other things) the current state of the virus and the need to finish the season and award the Stanley Cup before the Tokyo Olympics begin in August 2021.

Yesterday was Gabriel Landeskog’s birthday and to properly honor the Nordic God of Hockey, the Avs Twitter account took full advantage with lots of Landy content:

In other hockey news, you can add Jaromir Jagr to your list of players who think Alexander Ovechkin can break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record. For those keeping track at home, Ovi currently sits in 8^th place with 706 career goals, just 188 shy of the Great One’s all-time mark of 894.

And finally, following up on the saga of the Holtby family turtles, according to Braden Holtby’s wife Brandi, both have now officially made it home safely.