Ex-Capitals head coach Todd Reirden returns to Penguins bench as assistant
Mike Vellucci promoted from AHL team to work with forwards, penalty kill
Todd Reirden is back with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The team hired Reirden as an assistant coach under Mike Sullivan on Tuesday, just over a week after Reirden was fired as head coach of the Washington Capitals following a playoff loss to the New York Islanders.
This is Reirden's second stint in Pittsburgh. He served as an assistant under Dan Byslma from 2010-14 before leaving to join the Capitals. Reirden worked four seasons as an assistant under Barry Trotz, helping guide Washington to its first Stanley Cup in 2018.
Reirden replaced Trotz in the summer of 2018 and went 89-46-16 in two years but was let go last month after failing to lead Washington past the opening round of the playoffs for the second straight season.
The Penguins also hired Mike Vellucci as an assistant. Vellucci spent last season as the general manager and head coach of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pittsburgh's affiliate in the American Hockey League.
The hires are part of a restructured coaching staff following Pittsburgh's upset loss to Montreal in the qualifying round of the playoffs. The Penguins let assistants Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar and Jacques Martin go after falling to Montreal in four games.
