Rod Brind'Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes (Metropolitan), Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins (Atlantic), Peter DeBoer of the Dallas Stars (Central) and Bruce Cassidy of the Vegas Golden Knights (Pacific) will coach their respective divisions at the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Game at FLA LIVE Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Feb. 4 (3 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Brind'Amour, Montgomery, DeBoer, Cassidy named NHL All-Star Game coaches
Will guide respective divisions in 3-on-3 tournament in Sunrise, Florida, on Feb. 4
By
NHL.com @NHLdotcom
Their teams will have the highest points percentage (points earned divided by total possible points) in their respective divisions through Wednesday.
Brind'Amour will be coaching his second All-Star Game after coaching the Metropolitan Division last season. He's guided the Hurricanes (25-9-7, .695 points percentage) to first in the division. Brind'Amour won the 2021 Jack Adams Award voted as the top coach in the NHL after Carolina went 36-12-8.
"That will be interesting. What I took away last year, it was pretty neat to see the players you coach (against) and get to know them a little bit," Brind'Amour said. "It's not necessarily great because you have this kind of disdain for players on the other team. Then you get to be around them and you're like, "That guy's a good guy.' It's kind of nice to see them and get to know them."
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Montgomery will be coaching his first All-Star Game. He's led Boston to the best record in the NHL (32-4-4, .850 points percentage) after he was hired July 1 to replace Cassidy, who was fired June 7. Under Montgomery, the Bruins rank in the top five in the NHL in goals per game (3.85, second), goals-against per game (2.13, first), power-play percentage (28.2, third) and penalty-killing percentage (85.8, first), and leads the NHL with a plus-69 goal differential; the Stars rank second (plus-36). Boston has not lost a home game in regulation this season, going 19-0-3 including a 2-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston on Jan. 2.
"For me it's an honor and I'm honored to represent our team because they're the guys -- to me, I'm representing our group and what we've accomplished so far in the first half," Montgomery said. "… I think how they have coaches represent teams with the highest winning percentage is a reflection on how good your team has been playing. … There's certain things in your life you're just very fortunate to be a part of. This will be one."
DeBoer will be making his third All-Star Game appearance as a coach, including last season when he was with the Golden Knights. The Stars' first-year coach has them first in the Central Division (25-11-6, .667). DeBoer also coached the Pacific Division in 2017, when he was with the San Jose Sharks.
"I think it's a testament to the organization, to (general manager) Jim Nill and his group and how hard they work assembling this team," DeBoer said, "to the players and how hard they have worked since training camp, to our coaching staff and support staff on how they prepare every day. I get to go, but really it's a feather for all those people."
DeBoer said the game being in Florida, where he got his coaching start in the NHL with the Panthers in 2008-09, will make it extra special.
"For me it's a little full circle. It's where I started. It's hard to believe," DeBoer said. "It feels like it was 50 years ago not 15, but it will be nice to go back. It's always nice to return there and see some of the people that I've had relationships with since my first coaching job in the league. It's a little nostalgic because it is full circle and you never know when you're going to get a chance to do this again."
Cassidy will be making his second appearance, and first since he coached the Atlantic Division in 2020 with the Bruins. Hired by Vegas on June 14, he has the Golden Knights first in the Pacific (27-13-2, .667) after they failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
"It's always an honor," Cassidy said. "Obviously it's a team and staff award, I just get to go. I've been to one. I think it's fantastic for all the families, especially if you have young kids, that are around NHL players. ... We're going because of our record. Obviously I coach the team but it's the players on the ice that achieve that record so it's a credit to them."
The All-Star Game will feature a three-game tournament played in a 3-on-3 format and showcasing teams from each NHL division. Each of the four teams will include nine skaters and two goalies.
The initial 32 players were chosen for the All-Star Game by the
NHL hockey operations department Jan. 5
. The remaining 12 (two skaters, one goalie per division) will be chosen by a fan vote, which will take place online (NHL.com/vote) through Jan. 17, and on Twitter from Jan. 12-14. Details on the voting process can be found
here
.
The 12 players selected via fan voting be revealed Jan. 19.
The 2023 NHL All-Stars Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook will take place Feb. 3 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
NHL.com staff writers Amalie Benjamin and Dan Rosen, and independent correspondent Kurt Dusterberg contributed to this report
