The Anaheim Ducks have named Geoff Ward and Mike Stothers as assistant coaches.
Both Ward and Stothers are former recipients of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the American Hockey League’s outstanding coach. Ward shared the honor with Claude Julien, leading the Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup Finals in 2003; Stothers won the award in 2015 when he guided the Manchester Monarchs to a league championship.
Ward, 59, also served as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliates in Toronto (2003-04) and Edmonton (2004-05). He most recently was head coach of the Calgary Flames, leading the club to a berth in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Ward won a Stanley Cup championship as an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins in 2011, and later served as an assistant with the New Jersey Devils.
Stothers, 59, is one of three people in AHL history to win a Calder Cup as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach. He spent six seasons as head coach of the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL affiliates in Manchester (2014-15) and Ontario (2015-20), and also had a stint as head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2007-08. Stothers participated in the AHL All-Star Classic as a head coach in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and as an assistant in 1998 and 1999.
In addition to his championship with Manchester, Stothers captured the Calder Cup as an assistant with the Philadelphia Phantoms in 1997-98, and he won a title as a defenseman with the Maine Mariners in 1983-84 during a playing career that saw him skate in 671 AHL games.
