Carolina Hurricanes assistant coach jumps to Lokomotiv
Tom Rowe will be head coach of Russian team, assisted by former Maple Leaf Yushkevich
After becoming the new head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Tom Rowe was intent on looking ahead to a bright future rather than focusing on the Russian team's tragic past.
The 55-year-old American accepted the job with the rebuilding KHL team on Monday after spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Carolina Hurricanes.
"It's a great opportunity for me," Rowe told The Canadian Press. "My family and I are very comfortable with it and looking forward to it."
Lokomotiv is expected to rejoin the KHL next season after spending a year recovering from the September plane crash that killed 44 people, including the entire team and coaching staff.
Rowe's top assistant will be former NHLer Dmitri Yushkevich.
The job opportunity came with a phone call from former NHL executive Mike Smith, who is helping with the team's rebuilding efforts and wanted to see if Rowe would be interested in the position. He later went through an interview with Lokomotiv president Yury Yakovlev.
"I liked the president, I was very comfortable with him and I just thought the interview process that he put me through was incredibly detailed and very thorough," said Rowe. "[The decision] was more strictly based on the hockey and going in and getting back to coaching and having a head coaching position in a league like the KHL."
Rowe is a former NHLer who had spent his entire coaching career in the Hurricanes organization — first in the American Hockey League as an assistant and head coach before later moving up to the big club as an assistant coach for three seasons. He served as one of Carolina's pro scout this season.
He won't have much time to catch his breath with Yaroslavl's rookie camp scheduled to open July 1 and the team's main training camp slated to start July 20.
"It's a short turnaround but that's OK," said Rowe. "I get antsy when I don't have something to do so this will work out great."
It promises to be a unique experience.
Lokomotiv is a three-time Russian champion and will be heavily supported while making its way back from an incident that IIHF president Rene Fasel labelled the darkest in the sport's history.
"I thought this was a great team to go coach for," said Rowe. "They've got a great reputation."