The Pittsburgh Penguins are bringing back Todd Reirden.
Reirden was officially hired as an assistant coach under head coach Mike Sullivan on Tuesday, a week following Reirden being fired as head coach of the Washington Capitals, who were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the New York Islanders.
This will mark Reirden’s second stint with the Penguins as he served as an assistant with Pittsburgh under Dan Byslma from 2010 to 2014 before leaving to take the job with Washington.
“I, obviously, still need to learn and grow and improve,” Reirden said. “I learned a lot of lessons over my two years of being a head coach in Washington. Looking forward to learning, like I said, in particular from Mike Sullivan and the success he’s had in winning back-to-back championships [in 2016 and 2017].”
Following their elimination from the playoffs at the hands of Montreal, the Penguins have undergone changes with their staff under Sullivan, parting ways with longtime assistants Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar and Jacques Martin.
“I think it was something that just seemed to go full circle and the way it happened here was a perfect fit for everyone involved,” Reirden said.
Additionally, the Pens promoted Mike Vellucci.
“They’re really good coaches, first and foremost,” Sullivan said of Reirden and Vellucci. “They have a wealth of experience in a lot of different capacities. They’ve won championships at different respective levels. So they know what it takes to win a championship. We felt as though, through the interview process, that these guys were a good fit for us.”
