Hockey Canada names new head coach, general manager for Beijing Olympics

Hockey Canada's backup plan is now in full effect after the NHL announced that they wouldn't send their players to the Olympics this morning.

St. Louis Blues' Doug Armstrong was supposed to be Canada's general manager, while Tampa Bay Lightning's Jon Cooper was set to be Canada's head coach. With the NHL not participating, those two will now stay back with their respective teams, and Hockey Canada has found replacements.

Former Devils, Bruins, and Canadiens bench boss Claude Julien will be Canada's head coach in Beijing, while long-time Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes forward Shane Doan will be the team's general manager. Both Julien and Doan were part of Team Canada for the Channel One Cup in Russia last week, and were set to be in charge for the Spengler Cup starting on Sunday, but Canada withdrew due to COVID-19 concerns.

"Shane Doan will serve as the general manager and Claude Julien will be the head coach. Both men had been named to those positions with Team Canada for the Channel One Cup and Spengler Cup, two tournaments traditionally held in Europe in December," Paula Nichols of Olympic.ca said.

Julien, 61, has a fair amount of experience coaching Canada on the international stage. He was behind the bench as an assistant at the World Juniors for the 1999 tournament, and then was named head coach for the 2000 event. He then went on to be an assistant for Canada at the 2006 World Championship.

His success behind the bench in Boston led to Julien being named an assistant coach for the 2014 Winter Olympics where he helped Canada take home gold. A little over two years after that, he was back as an assistant coach for Canada at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, where they also took home the title.

As for Shane Doan, he's represented Canada on several occasions including six World Championships, captaining them three times and winning gold twice, one World Cup (2004) and one Olympic Games (2006).

Source: Olympic.ca.

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