Dan Lambert and Marc Savard will be the two new assistant coaches working with first-year Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska, the team announced Friday.
They’ll be joined by fellow assistant coach Cail MacLean, goalie coach Jason LaBarbera and video coach Jamie Pringle.
Savard’s hiring was reported by Jeff Marek on Thursday.
Lambert started his coaching career as Ryan Huska’s assistant coach with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. He spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators.
“We feel those past relationships will allow us to get up to speed quicker and hit the ground running,” said Flames general manager Craig Conroy in a release. “While Dan will be running our defence, he also provides well-balanced experience, having run the power play in Nashville the past four years. The focus is keeping the puck out of the net, but Dan’s approach generates an offensive flair from the back-end.”
After three years as an assistant, he took over the reins as head coach with the Rockets, winning the 2015 WHL championship before falling to Oshawa in overtime of the Memorial Cup final.
He jumped to the NHL as an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres the following year, and was the head coach for Buffalo’s AHL affiliate the next season, followed by two seasons as the bench boss with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs.
Savard played four seasons with the Flames, between 1999-2000 and 2002-03. He lifted the Stanley Cup in 2011 as a member of the Boston Bruins.
After his retirement from hockey, he returned behind an NHL bench as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues in 2019-20.
Savard spent the last two seasons as the head coach of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. In his first season behind the Windsor bench, he led the Spitfires to the OHL final, in 2021-22.
“I know how competitive Marc is from when we played together over three seasons here in Calgary,” said Conroy. “Savy has a great offensive mind, which will help boost our power play and help drive our offensive game. His style was very well known as a player, and he sees the game the same way as a coach.”