Longtime professional and junior hockey coach John Paddock announced his retirement on Monday.
Paddock, 69, has spent the past nine seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats, where he helped draft and develop Chicago Blackhawks top prospect Connor Bedard.
The Pats hired Paddock in 2014 to be their head coach and senior vice president of hockey operations. He was appointed as the club’s general manager a year later and remained in that position until his retirement.
“John has contributed so much to this hockey club over the past nine seasons, both on the ice and in the community,” Pats CEO Gord Pritchard said Monday. « Like any business, the hockey industry is about relationships and throughout his career, John has always made it a priority to develop relationships first and foremost with those he works with and the players. that he leads. I think that’s why he had such a great career. He puts people first. »
NEWS📰: The Regina Pats announced changes to their hockey operations department on Monday.
John Paddock has announced his retirement and Alan Millar has been hired as the new Vice President, Hockey Operations and General Manager. #LegendsInTheMaking | @LaWHL
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— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) July 10, 2023
Immediately after ending his playing career with the AHL’s Maine Mariners in the 1983–84 season, Paddock was named the team’s head coach and led the team to a Calder Cup championship. . He won the Calder Cup again four years later as head coach of the Hershey Bears.
Paddock became head coach of the original Winnipeg Jets in 1991 and remained with the club – eventually as general manager – until the end of their first year as the Phoenix Coyotes. Then, after another six years coaching in the AHL, Paddock returned to the NHL with the Ottawa Senators in 2005.
When Senators head coach Bryan Murray was hired as the club’s general manager in 2007, Paddock was asked to replace him. But the veteran coach spent less than a season behind the Senators bench before being fired and replaced by Murray, who led the team to a first-round exit.
Paddock joined the Philadelphia Flyers organization in 2008 and served as the team’s assistant coach during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. The Flyers relieved him of his duties in 2014, when he moved to the WHL with the Pats.
During his tenure at Regina, Paddock was twice named WHL Coach of the Year and was recognized as the league’s top manager in 2017. He served as an assistant coach for the WHL All-Star Team the WHL in the 2017 CIBC Canada/Russia Super Series.
