The Chicago Blackhawks announced two coaching moves on Wednesday afternoon, hiring Rob Cookson as an assistant coach. The team also named Marc Crawford as the new associate coach.
Cookson comes with lengthy coaching experience at the professional level, both in the NHL and abroad. He has 11 seasons of being an assistant coach in the NHL under his belt, with the majority of those years coming with the Calgary Flames (eight) before spending three seasons with the Ottawa Senators.
The 60-year-old began his NHL coaching career as a video coach for the Philadelphia Flyers for three seasons before heading to the Flames in 2001. He also spent time with Hockey Canada on the video side as the organization’s manager of video production and would go on to be Canada’s video technician at the 1994 Olympics, helping the Canadians to a silver medal. Cookson has also spent time as an assistant coach fo Hockey Canada at a number of international tournaments.
“Rob’s extensive NHL experience will complement our staff immediately,” said Blackhawks Interim General Manager Kyle Davidson in a press release. “It’s his fresh perspective, however, that will really benefit the team as we work on this transition. We look forward to Rob meeting us on this road trip and I know he is eager to get going with this group.”
Cookson will not be a new face to everyone on the Blackhawks, though, as he is already familiar with Crawford and Philipp Kurashev.
Cookson’s most recent coaching stop came with HC Lugano of the National League in Switzerland, serving as an assistant coach from December of 2019 through April of this year. Kurashev played under Cookson during the 2019–20 season before joining the Blackhawks for his rookie season in 2020–21.
Between his stops in Calgary and Ottawa, Cookson spent four years alongside Crawford as an assistant for the ZSC Lions of the National League A from 2012 to 2016. The final year Cookson and Crawford coached the Lions saw young phenom Auston Matthews playing under their guidance. Cookson then joined Crawford with the Senators in 2016.
Crawford had previously been serving in an assistant coach role with the team prior to Wednesday’s moves.