REPORT: Griffins to Announce New Head Coach on Tuesday

As reported by Pete Wallner of MLive Sports, the Griffins will be announcing their new head coach during a press conference scheduled for Tuesday at 11 a.m.

After Todd Nelson left Grand Rapids to work under Dallas Stars Head Coach Jim Montgomery, as one of his assistants, the Griffins have been looking for his replacement.

There have been rumblings that Ben Simon, current Griffins Assistant Coach, will take the head coaching reins – but that is unconfirmed. Simon was brought on at the same time as Nelson, at the beginning of the 2014-15 season, after spending the previous year as an assistant coach for the Toronto Marlies.

In the 2013-14 season he was Head Coach for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, and took them all the way to the final but lost in six games to the Alaska Aces – so Simon does one season of being a successful Head Coach under his belt.

Whoever is taking over the head coaching role for the Griffins, will surely have an interesting year ahead of them – expecting a massive youth injection. Dennis Cholowski, Givani Smith, David Pope, Chrisoffer Ehn, and Libor Sulak, are just some examples of young players that will be first-time Griffins and experiencing North American professional hockey for the first time. Development will be a big focus for the upcoming Griffins season.