Oulahen, Findlay, Rutledge
Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have finalized their coaching staff ahead of the 2018-2019 season, general manager Barclay Branch has confirmed.
Garrett Rutledge moves up from a scouting position with the Firebirds to become their new assistant coach.
The 37-year old Rutledge joins a youthful Flint coaching staff led by 33-year old head coach Ryan Oulahen and 30-year old associate coach Darcy Findlay.
In advancing from scout to assistant coach, Rutledge takes over the position from Scott MacDonald, who is moving on from the Firebirds to pursue a business opportunity outside of the Flint organization.
Rutledge has coaching experience that includes two years in the Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
Flint will head into the 2018-2019 season with a new-look coaching staff under the aforementioned bench boss Oulahen, who is considered a rising star in the OHL ranks.
Earlier this month, Flint hired the aforementioned, highly-regarded Findlay as associate coach to replace Paul Flache, who relocated from Flint to be closer to family in Atlanta.
It has been an eventful month of August for Flint, which missed the Western Conference playoffs with a young team in 2017-2018 but is poised to move up a few rungs on the ladder in 2018-2019.
Besides the coaching hires, the Firebirds traded a fifth-round draft pick to acquire overage goalie Emanuel Vella from the Mississauga Steelheads. The 6-foot-4 Vella had a 17-10-1 record for Mississauga in 2017-2018.