The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins announced today that J.D. Forrest has been named head coach and Jason Karmanos will serve as general manager of the club.
Forrest, 39, takes over as head coach after four seasons as an assistant with the Penguins. He previously spent one season coaching in Austria and was an assistant for the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2014-15, helping the U.S. to a gold medal at the IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship.
A native of Auburn, N.Y., Forrest played professionally for nine seasons, including 35 games in the AHL with the Albany River Rats and Worcester Sharks in 2007-08. He also skated for clubs in Finland, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany.
Forrest was selected by Carolina in the 2000 NHL Draft and played four seasons at Boston College.
Karmanos, 46, joined the Penguins front office in 2014 after 15 years as an executive with the Carolina Hurricanes. He was named Pittsburgh’s assistant general manager in 2017.
Forrest and Karmanos assume the duties held by Mike Vellucci in 2019-20; Vellucci was named an assistant coach in Pittsburgh last month.