Color of Hockey: Kirwan marks 30th season in Lightning organization

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Tampa Bay Lightning video coach Nigel Kirwan, the longest-tenured Black coach in the NHL and longest-tenured full time Lightning employee.

TAMPA -- Nigel Kirwan never thought he would be working in hockey, let alone doing it for three decades.

"It just kind of fell in my lap," the Tampa Bay Lightning video coach said. "This career has been totally unexpected."

As the Lightning celebrate their 30th anniversary, so too does Kirwan as the longest-tenured full time Tampa Bay employee from their inaugural 1992-93 season.

A video coach since 1996, Kirwan is the longest-tenured Black coach in the NHL. He worked his 2,000th game on Nov. 29, a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

"Getting this job with the Lightning was a deviation from where I thought I was going," he said, "and then getting in the coaching side was another deviation from where I thought I was going once I got inside."

Kirwan has earned three Stanley Cup rings (2004, 2020, 2021) and is believed to be the first Black coach on a Cup-winning team. He's worked under eight Tampa Bay coaches: Terry Crisp (1992-97); Jacques Demers (1997-99); Steve Ludzik (1999-01); John Tortorella (2001-08); Barry Melrose (2008); Rick Tocchet (2008-10); Guy Boucher (2010-13); and Jon Cooper since 2013.

"That's what, to me, is the most impressive part of Nigel's career," Crisp said. "Every coach that came in and talked to him realized the same thing that I realized, that here is a young man who loves the game and, even more so, knew exactly what he was doing for his part of the game and how good he was at it. Obviously, through eight coaches, Nigel Kirwan is a keeper."

He has been a mainstay all while keeping pace with the ever-changing video coaching technology that has evolved from clunky VHS cassettes and VCRs in the 1990s to DVDs in the 2000s to video stream cuts delivered in real time during games directly to iPads on the bench.

Kirwan is responsible for breaking down pre-scout and game film, formulating scouting reports on opposing teams and creating highlight and specialty videos for Lightning coaches and players. He has also coached Tampa Bay prospects during rookie and development camps.

"Nigel just is kind of the glue that kind of keeps everything together, you know?" Lightning goalie coach Frantz Jean said. "We all have different roles as coaches through the coaching staff and Nigel is kind of the connector of all that. He makes sure that we're basically seamless and that essentially everything works and is oiled so there's no clunk in the system."

Kirwan was born in Jamaica and moved with his family to Winnipeg when he was 2. He played minor hockey there and high school hockey at St. John's-Ravenscourt School. He attended Western University in London, Ontario, then joined his family in Tampa.

He joined the Lightning organization in the sales and marketing department from the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he was a part time equipment assistant.

Kirwan said he had ambitions of becoming a financial planner or working for the FBI when Crisp walked into his office in 1996.

Crisp said there were only a few hockey people around that he could talk to in the team's early days beyond founder/general manager Phil Esposito and brother Tony Esposito, who worked in the front office.

Crisp remembered a casual conversation he had earlier with Kirwan earlier about hockey. A light bulb flashed in his head.

"I poked my head in his door and said, 'Nigel, are you interested in joining our coaching staff? Because I don't have anybody to do video for me or come out on the ice with the guys,'" said Crisp, who retired as a Nashville Predators TV analyst in 2022. "He thought I was pulling his leg because I was a little bit of a joker and whatnot. I had to convince him, 'I'm not pulling your leg.' Nigel knows hockey. He was just what I was looking for."

Kirwan said he was "working in the front office one day, then was in the locker room the next and I had no idea what I was doing."

"I knew hockey, but I knew nothing about video, what I needed to do, what the job entailed," he said.

Today Kirwan is one of the NHL's longest-tenured and most-respected video coaches. Tampa Bay forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said he's amazed Kirwan has been coaching for so long.

"He's as aware of our system as the other coaches and his advice is valuable," Bellemare said.

"If Nigel comes and tells me, 'Hey, you're not playing the right way,' I would probably ask him, 'All right, please show me clips so I can get better.' It wouldn't be like, 'Aw, he's a video coach.'"

Lightning CEO Steve Griggs said Kirwan's longevity is an inspiration.

"I think young men and women of color can look at someone like Nigel and say, "I can be him, I can do that," Griggs said. "Whether it be (Lightning) chief operating officer Mark Pitts (the NHL's only Black COO) or Nigel Kirwan, they can aspire to those roles within what is somewhat of a predominantly white sport. This creates visibility and opportunity for those who say, 'That's what I want to do.'"

Kirwan said he still can't believe it has been 30 years with one team and more than 2,000 games with Tampa Bay.

"And three rings, that's even more remarkable," he said. "It's a blessing to win one."

Photos: Tampa Bay Lightning/Scott Audette