WATCH: Todd Nelson gives final interview as Griffins coach

With the news of the Dallas Stars hiring Todd Nelson as an assistant coach Thursday, the 49-year-old gave his final interview earlier today inside the Grand Rapids Griffins locker room.

He’ll join first-year coach Jim Montgomery, who Nelson played with for one season as a member of the Hershey Bears during the 1995-96 season.

Nelson told local media members he will work with the defense and help run the power play in Dallas, which ranked 19th in the league last season at 19.3 percent and has been above 20 percent once during the past six seasons.

He racked up a 176-111-46 record in four seasons coaching in Oklahoma City, reaching the playoffs each season and advancing to the Western Conference final in 2012 and 2013, losing to the Griffins in 2013.

Nelson joined the Griffins after a 17-22-7 record as the Edmonton Oilers interim head coach in 2014-15, posting a 133-78-17 record in three seasons, making the playoffs each season and winning a Calder Cup title in 2017.

In the interview, Nelson said it was a hard decision for him to leave Grand Rapids and noted there was an opportunity for him in Dallas to, at some point, eventually become a head coach of some NHL team.

Here are some of the highlights of that interview.

Avoiding the label: Nelson mentioned, short of winning another Calder Cup, there wasn’t anything else he could accomplish in the AHL. He said he didn’t want to be known as a “good AHL coach” and seized the opportunity to coach at the NHL level.

The next Griffins coach: Nelson said he hadn’t talked to Griffins general manager Ryan Martin about who his replacement would be, but he did say he would lend his opinion should Martin ask him. He added Ben Simon, 39, a current assistant coach with the Griffins, is a “quality coach” who is “eager to learn.”

Intrigued by Red Wings: Nelson said one of the biggest reasons he came to Grand Rapids was the opportunity to work with the Detroit Red Wings. He called the opportunity “intriguing” and praised their historic winning culture and added there was a lot of good people to work with in the front office.