Joining assistant Mark Lee on Travis Crickard's staff will be Jeff Hansen, a 40-year-old Calgary native who leaves the Western Hockey League for Saint John.
Hansen will be the team's defensive coordinator. He had been an assistant coach with the Lethbridge Hurricanes since the 2017-18 season and prior to that was a video coach with the Calgary Hitmen.
“It was important to find an experienced defense coach to help guide our young defensemen,” said Crickard in a news release. “Jeff worked with the defense in Lethbridge for five seasons and demonstrated the ability to develop elite defensemen (notably Calen Addison of the Minnesota Wild). Additionally, with so much teaching and learning being assisted by video, Jeff’s experience as a video coach at the international level will serve as a tremendous resource to our staff and players.”
Hansen also worked as a video coach with Hockey Canada during two World Under-17 Hockey Challenges.
Hansen was "relieved of his duties" from the Hurricanes in March.
"We’d like the thank Jeff for his tireless work over his five years with the organization and wish him the best in his future endeavours.”
Saint John's defensive woes were well documented throughout the last rebuild and only saw significant improvement over the past year or so. The team is clearly putting more of a focus on defensive work during the early stages of this build - and given the Hurricanes' news release, Hansen no doubt wants to prove he can develop defensemen.
Hansen last played professionally in 2010-11. He played in a number of pro leagues in North America, including the ECHL, LNAH and SPHL. He posted a significant amount of penalty minutes during his playing days and has plenty of highlights on YouTube.
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