Capitals Hire Tim Hunter As Assistant Coach
Tim Hunter, well respected as an enforcer as well as for his defense and penalty killing, will be the assistant coach for the same player he coached in the late 90’s.
The Washington Capitals have announced that they have named ex-Capital Tim Hunter as an assistant coach. With this hire, the Capitals have a full coaching staff.
Tim Hunter has quite an impressive resume. In his coaching career, which has spanned 13 seasons, he has coached in 1,041 games. He spent each of those 13 seasons as an assistant coach under Ron Wilson. Hunter’s leadership helped the Capitals reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998, and he actually coached three members of the Capitals coaching staff during that season: Head coach Adam Oates, Assistant Coach Calle Johansson, and Associate Goaltending Coach Olie Kolzig. He’ll provide a ton of wisdom, and he’s a terrific motivator as well. Terrific complement to Johansson’s more reserved style.
As a player, Hunter played for 16 years from 1981 to 1997. As a member of the Calgary Flames, he won a Stanley Cup in 1989. In 815 games, he amassed 138 points and 3,146 penalty minutes.
The most important thing Hunter is going to do for the Capitals is teach them to play as a cohesive unit and defend each other. Hunter is extremely respected because he would always defend his teammates, no matter whose butt he had to kick to do so. The Capitals had problems with sticking up for each other last year, and I think Hunter will definitely make sure that is remedied. You can bet every time Braden Holtby gets iced or shoved, Hunter will be yelling for the Capitals to do something about it. He was also solid on defense and great on the penalty kill.
