New Leaders of Champions

In one of the wilder off-seasons for WHL coaches, the Edmonton Oil Kings and Portland Winterhawks both were looking for new head coaches thanks to job openings in both the AHL and the NHL.  Derek Laxdal left the Oil Kings to take a job as the head coach of the AHL champion Texas Stars, which became open when Willie Desjardins was named to replace John Tortorella as the coach of the Vancouver Canucks.  Meanwhile, Mike Johnston left both the head coach and General Manager positions in Portland to accept the head coaching job in Pittsburgh.

How both teams filled those vacancies was different, as the Oil Kings hired from within, as Steve Hamilton was promoted from associate coach to be the new bench boss of the Oil Kings.  He helped oversee an Oil Kings unit that made the WHL Finals three years (currently) in a row and claim two WHL championships and a Memorial Cup.  His familiarity will help an Oil Kings squad that may very well experience a major turnover in its roster.

The Winterhawks looked to Chicago to name their guy, as Jamie Kompon was named to both the head coach and General Manager roles.  His resume includes six years as an Assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings (with two of those seasons intersecting Johnston's time with the Kings) and two seasons as an Assistant coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.  He has two Stanley Cup championships from 2012 and 2013 in that time.  Kompon has some sizable shoes to fill, but he appears to have the tools to lead Portland in their quest for a fifth straight WHL Finals appearance.