Hunter is back! Woohoo!
Wait, to clarify, Tim Hunter is back. As an assistant coach. Again. With this, he is the third former Capital (player or coach) from the ’98 Stanley Cup Finals team to return to DC to help lead this generation of red sweaters (not including Olaf Kolzig, who helps with the goaltending). Hunter himself won a Stanley Cup with the ’89 Flames, and was known for his defensive player as a having one of the most famous noses in the game’s history. He hopes to bring an aggressive hockey style to DC and has plenty of experience from his days as one of the league’s top enforcers.
In a conference call earlier today, he mentioned how it was interesting to coach with guys who played under him for the team. He hopes to help Adam Oates and Calle Johansson become better coaches. He also notes how he’s improved on separating the player and the person and that, “If a guy has a bad night, he’s not a bad person, and you just move forward from it.” Maybe we’ll see even better improvements on the defensive and penalty killing sides of the Capitals under this new brand of “Hunter Hockey.” Only time and GAA will tell.
