Get to Know Preds Assistant Coaches Todd Richards, Dan Hinote

As head coach, John Hynes is the one who answers for his team, but he would be the first to praise the roles his assistants play behind the bench.
Entering his first full season in charge in Nashville, Hynes has Assistant Coach Dan Lambert back from the 2019-20 campaign, and he'll lean on a pair of new faces as well.
The Predators hired two new assistant coaches in Todd Richards and Dan Hinote during the offseason, and as a new season arrives, their impacts have already been measurable.

"It's always interesting when you have the opportunity to work with different people that bring different experiences, whether it's playing experience or coaching experience," Hynes said. "It's fresh eyes, it's fresh ideas, sometimes of, 'Hey, here's what we do well, these are some things we really want to play like and with the identity,' and those guys help add different components. There's been a fresh perspective on players, which I think is always helpful. The reasons we hired them were A: their personality, B: their communication skills, and then they have such great backgrounds in the game coaching and playing. It's been exciting, and they've been a big help."
Both Richards and Hinote have won the Stanley Cup - Richards won it as an assistant coach for Tampa Bay in 2020, while Hinote lifted it as a player on the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 - and they'll hope to do that again in their new surroundings.
With Opening Night on the horizon, get to know the two new assistants who will help guide the Preds this season.

Dan Hinote:
- Won the Stanley Cup as a player on the Colorado Avalanche in 2001
- Has multiple connections to the Predators - he coached Ryan Johansen while in Columbus; was teammates with former Preds players and Hockey Hall of Famers Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg; also shared the ice with current Predators Director of Player Development Scott Nichol and broadcaster Chris Mason
- Won three international gold medals while coaching with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in 2019-20
- Previously coached in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2010-14 as an assistant
- Played in more than 500 career NHL games with Colorado and St. Louis
- Spent time as a sales trader with a bank trading equities and stocks after retiring from hockey as a player

Todd Richards:
- Won the 2020 Stanley Cup as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning
- Began his professional coaching career with the Milwaukee Admirals - Nashville's primary AHL affiliate - in 2002 as an assistant
- Coached and helped develop Predators goalie Pekka Rinne while working with the Admirals
- Won the 2004 Calder Cup with Milwaukee and took Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to the AHL's final as head coach in 2008
- Has served as a head coach for two different NHL teams, commanding the Minnesota Wild from 2009-11 and the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2011-16, where Dan Hinote worked under him as an assistant
- Represented the United States at the international level four times, including as an assistant coach for the Americans at the 2014 Winter Olympics
- Enjoyed a 13-year professional career as a defenseman, appearing in more than 850 games across multiple leagues (NHL, AHL, IHL, Swiss)