On Thursday, it was announced that former Winnipeg Jets netminder Michael Hutchinson is staying in the game, just from a different vantage point.
The Selkirk Steelers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League have brought Hutchinson on as their new goaltending coach, giving the club a bona fide NHL veteran to work with its young goaltenders.
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The move comes just weeks after the 36-year-old announced his retirement from professional hockey at the end of July, closing the book on an 11-season NHL career that saw him suit up for six different organizations.
Hutchinson signed with the Winnipeg Jets organization in 2013 and quickly turned heads, starring with the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps before earning a full-time NHL job. His best season came in 2014-15, when he went 21-10-5 with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage while splitting time with Ondrej Pavelec, a performance that helped push Winnipeg back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the franchise relocated from Atlanta.
The Barrie, Ont. native would go on to play 102 games for the Jets across parts of five seasons before later stints with the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings. In total, he appeared in 154 NHL regular-season games, finishing with a 57-62-18 record, a 2.94 GAA, a .903 save percentage and six shutouts.
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When word of his retirement broke, the Jets paid tribute online, congratulating Hutchinson and adding they “can’t wait to see you at the Alumni Game,” a nod to the lasting connection between the goaltender and the city where he found his greatest success.
Hutchinson has chosen to remain in Winnipeg, where he already runs a local goaltending school, Hutchinson Goaltending. Now, with the Steelers, he takes the next step in his hockey journey, moving behind the bench and is helping bring over a decade of NHL experience to the next generation of Manitoba netminders.
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