Todd Nelson has won five different minor league championships as head coach in the last two decades. That includes back-to-back titles for the Washington Capitals' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, the past two seasons. He also aided the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 as an assistant who heavily guided team tactics.

Peter Laviolette was fired as coach of the New York Rangers on Saturday, ending his tenure after two seasons, the second of which was a massive underachievement of missing the playoffs. General manager Chris Drury made the move less than 48 hours after the finale of a lost season that followed a trip to the Eastern Conference final last year and set the stage for Stanley Cup-contending aspirations.