Carolina Hurricanes Announce Training, Hockey Ops, Scouting Promotions

Update 6/12/17: The Hurricanes have continued with their front-office reorganization, naming Sheldon Ferguson chief North American scout and former Canes winger Robert Kron as the head of European scouting. Kron has been the Canes’ only full-time European scout for the past few years, although fellow Hurricanes alumnus Joni Pitkanen has been assisting on a part-time basis over the past few months.

Both Ferguson and Kron will continue to report to Tony MacDonald, the Canes’ director of amateur scouting, so very little will change operationally in the makeup of the Canes’ scouting office. -Brian LeBlanc

One of the more widely discussed changes in the Carolina Hurricanes’ general staff this summer has been the departure of longtime head athletic Trainer Pete Friesen, whose position is now filled by Doug Bennett, who previously worked as the Canes’ assistant athletic trainer. The Hurricanes have also brought up Brian Maddox as assistant athletic trainer. Maddox previously served as the head athletic trainer for the Hurricanes’ affiliate team(s) since 2005. And after joining the staff as a full-time strength coach last summer following three years of part-time contributions, Bill Burniston was promoted to head strength and conditioning coach.

In the Hockey Operations Department, former Canes Sergei Samsonov and Jeff Daniels earned new positions — Samsonov with forwards development (former position of Cory Stillman, now Head Coach of the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL) and Daniels as manger of professional scouting — while Glen Wesley retains his position with defensemen development. Eric Tulsky, who has worked full-time for two years as the Hurricanes’ hockey analyst after a year of part-time work, was moved up to manager of analytics, a move that suggests further growth incoming to the department. And finally, Darren Yorke, who has served eight seasons with the Canes as assistant to the General Manager and video scout, was moved up to the manager of scouting position.

The release from the team follows below.

Hurricanes Announce Athletic Training and Hockey Operations Promotions

Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has named Doug Bennett as head athletic trainer and Bill Burniston as head strength and conditioning coach. Brian Maddox, who previously served as head athletic trainer for the team's AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, joins the Hurricanes as assistant athletic trainer.

In addition, Francis announced that Darren Yorke has been promoted to manager of scouting and Eric Tulsky has been promoted to manager of analytics. Jeff Daniels, who has served as the organization as a player, coach and scout, has been named the team's manager of professional scouting. Sergei Samsonov, who previously served as a scout, has been promoted to forwards development. Glen Wesley will continue to serve in his defensemen development role.