The Anaheim Ducks have announced that Roy Sommer has been named the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls.
Sommer joins the Ducks organization after 25 years with the San Jose Sharks, including the last 24 seasons as head coach of their top development affiliates in Kentucky (1998-2001), Cleveland (2001-06), Worcester (2006-15) and San Jose (2015-22).
Sommer, 65, had moved into a senior advisor role with the San Jose Barracuda in May.
The AHL’s all-time leader in games coached (1,742) and victories (808), Sommer earned the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the league’s outstanding coach in 2016-17. His teams have won four division titles, and he has coached in three AHL All-Star Classics (2000, 2015, 2019).
A native of Oakland, Calif., Sommer has coached more than 150 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, a list that includes Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc, Matthew Nieto, Chris Tierney, Jacob Middleton, Joe Pavelski, Barclay Goodrow, Ryan Carpenter, Dan Boyle, Christian Ehrhoff, Brad Boyes, Josh Gorges, Steve Bernier, Torrey Mitchell, Thomas Greiss, Jason Demers, Andrew Desjardins, Jamie McGinn, Alex Stalock, Justin Braun, Tommy Wingels, Miikka Kiprusoff, Evgeni Nabokov, Jonathan Cheechoo, Ryane Clowe and Douglas Murray.
Prior to being named the Sharks’ AHL head coach, Sommer spent the 1997-98 season as an NHL assistant coach under Darryl Sutter in San Jose. He also spent part of the 2019-20 season as an associate coach of the Sharks.
Sommer played 10 seasons of professional hockey after being drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1977, scoring a goal in his NHL debut with Edmonton in 1981 and winning a Calder Cup with the Maine Mariners in 1984.
