Former Penguins assistant coach Jacques Martin did not take long to find a new job.
Less than three weeks after the Penguins opted not to renew his contract, Martin was hired by the New York Rangers on Monday in the same capacity.
Martin, 67, spent the previous seven seasons with the Penguins, including parts of the past five as an assistant coach. in that role, Martin oversaw the team’s defensemen as well as the penalty kill. During the 2019-20 season, the Penguins had a penalty kill conversion rate of 82.1%, 10th-best in the NHL.
A member of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup championship teams in 2016 and ‘17, Martin had joined the team in 2013 as an assistant coach before briefly taking on a senior advisor role then returning to the bench as an assistant.
The Penguins cut ties with Martin as well as fellow assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar and Mark Recchi by announcing their contracts would not be renewed on Aug. 12. The Penguins have conducted interviews for their successors but have yet make any hirings.
“We’ll zero in on that a lot more at this point,” general manager Jim Rutherford said last week. “We have been interviewing people and kind of have a gauge for what people could help the Penguins and help Mike Sullivan’s staff. We’ll zero in on it soon.”
A head coach with the St. Louis Blues, Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens, Martin has the 20th-most coaching wins in NHL history with a record of 613-481-119-81.
