Kirk MacDonald has been named head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, it was announced today by Penguins President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.
A native of Victoria, British Columbia, MacDonald will be the 12th AHL head coach Penguins history. The 40 year-old MacDonald joins the Penguins organization with over 10 years of coaching experience, most recently as the head coach of the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League (USHL) from 2022-24. This past season, MacDonald led Dubuque to the best record in the USHL’s Eastern Conference, going 41-13-8 in the regular season before capturing the USHL Eastern Conference championship in the Clark Cup playoffs.
Prior to his time in Dubuque, MacDonald spent eight seasons with the Reading Royals of the ECHL in various roles including assistant coach, head coach and director of hockey operations. A native of Victoria, BC, MacDonald got his start in coaching at the collegiate level with RPI, where he served as an assistant coach in 2013-14.
MacDonald enjoyed a seven-year professional playing career from 2007-13. The forward spent the majority of his career at the AHL level, appearing in 272 regular-season games with Albany, Providence, Iowa and Houston where he notched 106 points (45G-61A). MacDonald played his collegiate hockey at RPI from 2002-07.
