Dallas Stars Rumors: Todd Nelson Joining Stars As Assistant Coach

By Josh Clark | May 30, 2018

EDMONTON, AB - MARCH 21: Todd Nelson; Coach of the Edmonton Oilers exchanges words with an official during the game against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 21, 2015 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The rumor mill was churning for the Dallas Stars on Wednesday morning in regards to their assistant coach gig. From the looks of it, Todd Nelson as one of Montgomery’s newest assistants may be a done deal.

The Dallas Stars are working valiantly through their 2018 offseason checklist right now. And after the perplexing 2017-18 season that they turned in, staying ahead is probably for the best.

One of the most pressing issues on their list at the moment is finding new assistant coaches. After Ken Hitchcock retired on April 13, the Stars bench has been under reconstruction.

Dallas hired University of Denver head coach Jim Montgomery to be their next head coach on May 4. With the hiring, Montgomery also needed to find himself a new coaching staff. That included new assistant coaches and video coaches. Whether the Stars would keep any of the current coaches or not would be up to Monty and management.

And now, it looks as though the Stars have landed their first assistant.

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As first reported by Sean Shapiro of The Athletic on Wednesday morning, the Stars have reportedly hired Todd Nelson as an assistant coach. Nelson has coached hockey since 2001 when he started in the UHL. From an assistant with the Atlanta Thrashers to the interim head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, he’s been around the NHL as well.

For the past three seasons, he’s served as head coach to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL. In that three-year span, he’s already won a Calder Cup championship (in 2017). So he can find success quickly for his teams using his unique coaching style.

Following Shapiro’s tweet, Craig Custance of The Athletic and even John Shannon of Sportsnet confirmed the rumors as well. From the looks of it, the hiring seems to be a done deal. If that’s the case, the Dallas Stars can check off another box on their to-do list.

Nelson is a young coach with plenty of potential and an updated style of thinking and coaching. It fits well in today’s game and it will be interesting to see where he can help Montgomery take the Stars.

Next: Todd Nelson Could Fit Well On Stars' Coaching Staff

From the looks of it, the Dallas Stars have one of their new assistant coaches.