New coach in Wolves den


By
May 25, 2017

Two days after the mutual departure of veteran coach David Matsos, Sudbury Wolves have hired Cory Stillman as their new bench boss.

The hiring of the 43-year old Stillman comes in the wake of the Wolves and Matsos — who had a year left on a three-year contract — being unable to come to terms on an extension.

Thus, the arrival of Stillman in Sudbury to take the helm of a Wolves pack that in 2016-2017 placed sixth in the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League with a 27-34-7 record before losing to the Oshawa Generals in the first round of the playoffs.

Sudbury had missed the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons with Matsos behind the bench.

Stillman is a former OHL scoring star with the Windsor Spitfires and Peterborough Petes who went on to play in more than 1,100 National Hockey League games as an intelligent, two-way winger who scored 297 career goals.

He was a first-round pick of the Calgary Flames and went on to play for a number of other NHL teams, winning a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes.

Stillman had spent the past five years with Carolina as a skills development coach for the NHL team.

As Stillman formerly worked for Carolina, Wolves general manager Rob Papineau is a former scout with the Hurricanes.

Hockey runs through the Stillman family.

Cory’s son Riley is a high-end, offensive minded, 1998 birth-year defenseman with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and is an NHL draft pick of the Florida Panthers.

And Cory’s father-in-law is Bud Stefanski, a former OHL coach with the Barrie Colts and erstwhile St. Michael’s Majors.

PHOTO: New Sudbury coach Cory Stillman (left) with Wolves owner Dario Zulich at today’s press conference.


What you think about “New coach in Wolves den”

      1. Player development coach is not the same thing. Has he ever been behind a bench and coaching a team….?

  1. Makes sense that Papineaau will try and acquire Riley, but he with have to give away many assets to get an NHL drafted defenseman.

  2. No coaching experience … that is a worry as far as I concerned tho I suppose that all of the NHL experience winning Stanley Cups is a bonus for the Wolves.

  3. Encouraging to hear Stillman talk about having a fast, puck possession-type team.
    Ever since Sheldon Keefe introduced it with the Greyhounds, the rest of the league wants to play this style which puts pressure on opponents, develops skill, encourages creativity and is highly entertaining (puts butts in seats). And I think good players want to play this way. Good for recruiting.
    Hooray for the end to knuckle-dragger hockey in Sudbury. No more dump-and-chase and adios to those 6’4 no-talent Jethros.

  4. If you read the article in the paper, Papineau made the “puck possession” comment the day after Matsos and Smith left with one year left on his contract. Then Dario Zulich said on radio yesterday, “the first time I met him he was on his farm planting potatoes.” When did he meet him?

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