Kirk Muller lands a new NHL coaching job

This just in, the Washington Capitals have signed longtime NHLer turned assistant coach Kirk Muller to serve as an assistant to new head coach Spencer Carbery.

Additionally the team has hired longtime skills coach Kenny McCudden, as well.

Muller and McCudden will join assistant coaches Scott Allen and Mitch Love, goaltending coach Scott Murray, assistant coach/video Brett Leonhardt and video coordinator Emily Engel-Natzke on head coach Carbery's staff.

The 57 year old Muller joins the Capitals after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames under Darryl Sutter. Previous to that he had two long stings as an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens, first from 2006 until 2011 and then again from 2016 until 2021. Sandwiched in between he also served as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes from 2011 until 2014 and then an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues from 2014 until 2016. 

The guy is a hockey lifer and has been a fixture in the NHL going back all the way to his rookie season in 1984 with the New Jersey Devils. Highly touted out of junior hockey, Muller was drafted 2nd overall by the Devils behind some kid named Mario Lemieux. And while Muller got close to matching Lemieux's level of excellence, he had an outstanding career in his own right before getting into coaching. He's probably mostly remembered for his 94 point campaign during the 1993-94 Stanley Cup championship season with the Canadiens. In fact, Muller scored the Stanley Cup clinching goal in Game 5 against the Los Angeles Kings to bring the Habs their 24th championship. 

In total he put up an impressive 357 goals and 959 points in 1349 regular season games split between the Devils, Canadiens, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars.

He was an outstanding player in his prime and, by all accounts, he is a well liked coach as well. He's had his ups and downs as a coach throughout the years, but he has proven that he's adaptable and has made himself a valuable resource to head coaches across the league. He'll be relied on to add some experience to the Capitals' relatively young coaching staff.