Pittsburgh Penguins' new assistant coach Mike Stothers almost missed the call – literally – to discuss what is now his position on head coach Dan Muse's staff.
While celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary with his wife at their lakeside house in Owen Sound, Ontario, Stothers didn't have his phone on him.
"I didn't have my phone with me all day long," Stothers said. "And, usually, you know… you always have your phone around."
He continued: "I came back late at night, and I looked at my phone, and I went, 'Oh my god, who's this?' Then, I looked, and I'm like, 'Oh, man… he's probably moved on,' because I hadn't responded."
Stothers may have missed the initial calls, but he was eventually able to get in touch with Muse and have good conversations about the potential opportunity to join Pittsburgh's staff.
"Your staff has to be kind of like your roster," Stothers said. "Everybody has a role, and then, there's a fit. So, it seemed to just move along very, very well from there, and then, they offered me the opportunity. They said, 'Do you want some time to think about it?' And I said, 'No.' I said, 'I haven't stopped thinking about it since the first time you reached out.'
He had plenty of experience travelling to Pittsburgh as a player. Stothers spent most of his professional hockey career in the AHL between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs organizations. Drafted 21st overall by the Flyers in 1980, he played in 30 NHL games spread across five different seasons, registering two career assists. In 671 career AHL games – mostly played with the Hershey Bears – Stothers racked up 1,843 penalty minutes.
Penguins Add Mike Stothers As Assistant Coach To Fill Out 2025-26 StaffAfter two long months, the Pittsburgh Penguins' quest to bring on a new coaching staff for the 2025-26 season is finally complete.
His familiarity with the city of Pittsburgh – and the connection he felt to city when he visited as a player – made the decision to accept the job easy for him.
"There was no hesitation," Stothers said. "I was so excited to be a part of Pittsburgh because, when I was with the Flyers – and don't start throwing stuff at me because I was with the Flyers – even as a visiting team coming in, you just knew a city, right? You just have a good feel for it, like that would be a good place to play or that would be a good place to work. So, it just seemed to fall into place."
And Stothers brings plenty of coaching experience to the Penguins' staff. He started his coaching career with the Bears in 1991-92 as a player-assistant, and he remained there for three years before moving on to the Philadelphia Phantoms, and – eventually – to the Flyers, as an assistant from 2000-02.
His first head coaching gig came with the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL in 2002-03, where he remained for five seasons. From there, he rotated between gigs as a head coach in the AHL and WHL and as an NHL assistant for the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers in 2010-11, and – most recently – his stint with the Anaheim Ducks from 2021-23.
He is prepared to helm the defense and penalty kill, which could both use some improvement. But – echoing the sentiment of Muse on Friday – Stothers expects it to be a team effort, especially with Muse's and Nick Bonino's experience with PK units.
"I think it's going to be a collaboration between the three of us, to be honest with you," Stothers said. "There are no right answers, there's no '100 percent' way of doing things…. Everything's well-researched. Everybody does their pre-scouts and everything else. So, it's like a chess match, it really is."
Stothers took more than a year away from hockey after being diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma of the Lymph Node while with the Ducks, needing ample time to recover both physically and mentally. While he was grateful for that time off, he missed being around hockey and being behind the bench.
And he can't wait to get right back into the swing of things with the Penguins' organization, especially having previous connections to fellow assistants Todd Nelson and Rich Clune as well as forward Boko Imama, who Stothers said he has a "special relationship with."
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Feature image credit: Kelsey Surmacz – The Hockey News
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