The Canadiens added a new member to their coaching staff on Thursday.
Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations, announced that Roger Grillo has been hired as a coaching consultant to join the staff of head coach Martin St. Louis.
Grillo was an assistant coach under head coach Mike Gilligan at the University of Vermont when St. Louis was a player there for four seasons, starting in 1993-94. Grillo left for Brown University after St. Louis’s final season at Vermont in 1996-97 and was head coach there for 12 seasons until 2008-09. He joined USA Hockey as a regional manager of the American Development Model in 2009, before being named to director of player development in 2022.
Grillo has coached at USA Hockey player development camps and also lectured at USA Hockey coaching clinics. He was also head coach of the 2006 and 2007 U.S. Under-18 Select teams that competed at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. He served as president of the American Hockey Coaches Association from 2003-05.
Grillo played two seasons at the University of Maine and was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the 10th round (190th overall) of the 1983 NHL Draft, but never played in the NHL.
The Canadiens announced on July 1 that Alex Burrows was stepping down as an assistant coach to spend more time with his family, but that he would remain with the organization as a player development consultant.
The Canadiens don’t have a lot of NHL coaching experience behind the bench and Grillo has never coached in the NHL.
St. Louis is heading into his fourth season as head coach and has a 75-100-26 record in 201 games. Assistant coach Stéphane Robidas is heading into his third season in that role with the Canadiens, while fellow assistant coach Trevor Letowski is heading into his fourth season behind an NHL bench.
The Canadiens also announced Thursday that Albie O’Connell has been promoted to chief North American scout, Tommy Lehman has been promoted to chief European scout and Matt Ryan has been hired as a pro scout.
Dale Lablans has also been promoted to head of performance, Stéphane Gervais has been hired as strength and conditioning coach, and Mitch Freeburn will replace Gervais in Laval as the Rocket’s strength coach.