Former Vancouver Canuck lands coaching position with Nashville Predators

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Cooper Godin
June 21, 2024 (12:58)

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A former Vancouver Canucks forward has joined the Nashville Predators as an assistant coach for the 2024-25 season.

On Friday, Nashville Predators General Manager Barry Trotz announced that former Canuck Darby Hendrickson has been named an assistant coach with the team after 14 years in the same role with the Minnesota Wild.

Trotz commented on the hiring in a post on the Predators' website, saying that they're excited Hendrickson to their coaching staff given his experience in the National Hockey League as both a player and assistant coach.

"We are excited to add a person and coach of Darby's caliber to our organization. After spending more than a decade as a professional player, he has been a quality coach in the NHL for a long time, further strengthening our staff's ability to communicate and teach the game at a high level." Trotz said.

He added, "His familiarity with Andrew Brunette � having been both teammates and coaches together in the past � adds to the cohesiveness of our group, and his experience as an NHL player and coach makes him very relatable to today's player. With Darby now on our staff, our coaches own more than 2,200 combined games of NHL playing experience, something we feel is precious for our team's growth as we strive to achieve our goal of winning the Stanley Cup."

Hendrickson, 51, spent parts of two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks in 1998-99 and 1999-00, where he put up 13 points (seven goals, six assists), 36 penalty minutes and was a minus-18 in 67 games.

The Richfield, Minnesota native appeared in 518 career NHL games with the Maple Leafs, Islanders, Canucks, Wild and Avalanche before heading over to Austria for a couple of seasons and retiring at the end of the 2006-07 campaign.