Kostopoulos and Chiodo will work closely with Penguins' director of player development Scott Young and player development coach Jarrod Skalde within the Penguins' hockey operations department.
Kostopoulos, 39, and Chiodo, 35, rank among the most popular players in the history of the Penguins' top minor-league affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and each made his NHL debut with Pittsburgh in the early 2000s.
A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Kostopoulos recently wrapped up a 19-year professional career that included a combined 1,468 NHL and AHL regular season and playoff games. He was the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' captain for his final five seasons where he played an underrated but instrumental role in the Penguins' back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and '17.
As captain, Kostopoulos helped assimilate several of the young players who played starring roles for Pittsburgh to the professional ranks, a group that included Matt Murray, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary and Tom Kuhnhackl.
In addition to the leadership Kostopoulos provided off the ice, he remained a significant offensive performer for WBS on the ice. He ended his career as the WBS Penguins' all-time leader across the board in games played, goals, assists and points in both the regular season and playoffs.
Kostopoulos, the Penguins' seventh-round (204th overall) selection in the 1999 NHL Draft, broke into the NHL with Pittsburgh during the 2001-02 campaign. He skated for Pittsburgh through the 2003-04 season, before playing with Los Angeles, Montreal, Carolina, Calgary and New Jersey. He totaled 157 points (61G-96A) in 630 regular-season games and five points (3G-2A) in 16 postseason contests.
Kostopoulos, who enjoyed three tours of duty with WBS, is one of just four players to play over 600 games in both the NHL and AHL. Most of his AHL career was spent with WBS, but he did play one season (64 games) with the Manchester Monarchs during the 2004-05 season.
Chiodo, who hails from Toronto, Ontario, enjoyed tremendous success with the WBS Penguins at the outset of his professional career in 2003-04, helping WBS reach the 2004 Calder Cup Final, where the club eventually fell to the Milwaukee Admirals. Chiodo led WBS that year with 18 wins in the regular season, then tacked on three shutouts during the playoff run.
Chiodo, who was selected by the Penguins in the seventh round (199th overall) in the 2003 NHL Draft, saw his only NHL action with Pittsburgh that season. That year, the Penguins reached the low point of their rebuild that has since resulted in three Stanley Cup championships since 2009.
Chiodo sparked a late season revival after joining the club in February. His first NHL win came on February 25, 2004, a 4-3 overtime defeat against the then-Phoenix Coyotes. Not only was that Chiodo's first win, but that victory ended the Penguins' franchise-record-tying 18-game winless stretch. Chiodo posted a 3-4-1 record in eight games with Pittsburgh, as the Penguins went on a 12-5-3 run to close the season after winning just 11 of their first 62 games.
Following his three-year run in the Pittsburgh organization, which included time with the Wheeling Nailers as well, Chiodo continued to play professionally in North America and Europe through the 2016-17 campaign. His 14 seasons included stops in Russia's KHL, Finland and Austria. In 2007-08, his Finnish team, Karpat, won the league championship.
Chiodo spent the 2017-18 season as the goaltending coach for the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League.
