The Tampa Bay Lightning have hired Brad Lauer as assistant coach. Lauer had been on Bruce Boudreau‘s staff in Anaheim since November 2011. He coached the Ducks’ forwards and power play, which ranked 28th in the NHL.
Prior to joining Anaheim, Lauer was an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators from the 2009 to 2011 seasons. Before that, Lauer served as assistant coach for five seasons with the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League. During his time with the Ice, from 2002-03 to 2006-07, the team picked up more than 100 points twice and won 40 games three times.
Before his stint with the Ice, Lauer served as assistant coach under Lane Lambert of the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals.
The New York Islanders’ second-round pick in the 1985 draft, Lauer played three seasons with the Canadian Hockey League’s Regina Pats beginning in 1983-84. He completed his 16-year pro playing career at the end of the 2001-02 season and posted 111 points on 44 goals and 67 assists in 323 career NHL games with the New York Islanders, Senators, Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lauer also played 13 seasons in the AHL and the International Hockey League, suiting up with the Indianapolis Ice, Las Vegas Thunder, Cleveland Lumberjacks and Utah Grizzlies of the IHL, and the AHL’s Springfield Indians and Capital-District Islanders.
“I’m really excited to join the coaching staff in Tampa Bay,” Lauer said. “It is an outstanding opportunity for me to join a great organization with top-notch ownership and management. They have a young, highly-skilled team and it is exciting as a coach to walk into a situation like that.”
Follow me on Twitter @LightningShout and please “like” LightningShout on Facebook. You can email us at [email protected].
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!