Steve Potvin has been named head coach of the Tucson Roadrunners.
Again.
Potvin, who led Arizona’s AHL affiliate during the 2020-21 season when then-coach Jay Varady spent a season in the NHL with the Coyotes, was re-introduced on Thursday after being named the club’s head coach earlier in the week.
Varady left the Roadrunners to join the Detroit Red Wings’ coaching staff, and neither Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong nor Coyotes assistant GM/Roadrunners GM John Ferguson had to look far to find the next head coach in Tucson.
“It was an easy decision, and certainly an easy recommendation on my end to promote him,” Ferguson said. “It maintains the continuity that was established a couple of years back in the organization. The culture’s being instilled, player development’s hitting the right direction, and he has the right values.”
The 47-year-old Potvin played professional hockey for 16 years, including 158 games in the AHL, where he recorded 75 points in 158 games spent with the Portland Pirates, Baltimore Bandits, Albany River Rats, and Hamilton Bulldogs.
Given how the Coyotes have steadily built their prospect pipeline under Armstrong, Potvin hopes to build upon the culture that he’s already had a hand in cultivating over the last six years.
“We’re going to create a standard that’s going to get us from good to great,” Potvin said. “That’s what we’re here to do, and we’re looking forward to every challenge.”
Potvin joined the Coyotes organization as skills coach in 2016-17 before landing with the Roadrunners the following season, and it’s easy to see why he’s back behind the bench, especially considering the hand he’s had in developing Arizona’s future.
He has steadily built a strong rapport and reputation with the players, consistently helping them reach the NHL on a regular basis. Consider this: 20 Roadrunners have made their NHL debut over the past six seasons, and that includes eight just last year.
“I think everybody needs a mentor,” Potvin said. “For development, for us, it’s literally seeking the truth. Seeking the truth is seeing what the players are actually good at, and sometimes trying to find what their weaknesses are requires you to dig down and actually seek the truth.”
Though Potvin excels at building those relationships with prospects, the way he’s put it into action has been impressive, as well. Just last season, for example, Tucson’s power-play percentage of 20.5 percent was not only seventh-best in the AHL, but was also the club’s best-ever mark.
Armstrong added that the decision to promote Potvin, which “didn’t take very long” to make, wasn’t solely an analysis of numbers. Quite simply, prospects want to play for him.
“The players had such high regard for Steve and what he has accomplished,” Armstrong said. “That’s the type of environment we’re looking for, where players are going to come through the door and they’re going to want to play for the coach.”
For Potvin, having previously been at the helm in Tucson gives him an opportunity to continue building something that he helped start. He will work alongside assistant coaches John Slaney and new arrival Zack Stortini, who was hired on Wednesday after spending two seasons with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.
“The thing that I appreciate the most is that Bill and John really have the foresight in growth and what it takes to win,” Potvin said. “They’ve been able to put together a strong staff, not only from a coach perspective in the NHL, but our development staff all the way down to the ranks of the American Hockey League is second to none.”
Ferguson said that very coaching staff is in a great position to continually bolster player development and help those players take the next step. Slaney is entering his seventh year with the Roadrunners, and ninth in the Coyotes organization.
Though Stortini is new to the organization, Potvin goes pretty far back with him, as well, and they’ve even played shinny hockey together in the past.
Between the three of them, Tucson’s coaching staff seems to be in a prime position to gel.
“Bottom line, we’re looking at producing Arizona Coyotes in a competitively successful environment, and that that internal and external competition occurs every day,” Ferguson said. “They’re going to make a great staff. I know they’re excited to get started, and Steve’s as excited as am I.”
Potvin acknowledged the challenge that awaits him, though his previous experience will go a long way in easing any sort of transition pains. He knows what to expect, he knows how to motivate, and perhaps most importantly, he knows he doesn’t need to second guess any of the decisions he’s making.
After all, he’s made those decisions before, and can trust his instincts when it’s crunch time.
“The opportunity for me to step in and be the head coach and understand what it’s like to be in the big chair, so to speak, was really good for me to see, to experience, and to feel,” Potvin said. “I think it was a major, major growth period for me. Now it just makes you a little bit more prepared, and you’re a lot more confident with what your approach is going to be from day to day.”