Langenbrunner takes job with Boston

NSO NEWS RELEASE

Cloquet’s Jamie Langenbrunner appeared in 1,109 career NHL games and now nwith his retirement two years ago Langenbrunner will now be using his talents as he has been hired by the Boston Bruins as a Developemental Coach for the team.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion scored 243 goals and recorded 420 assists with plenty of assistance from his brain. Langenbrunner knew when and where to be, which earned him the trust of coaches such as Ken Hitchcock and Pat Burns.

The Boston Bruins have promoted Jay Pandolfo from Development Coach to Director of Player Development and hired former NHLer Jamie Langenbrunner as a Development Coach, as a player development coach, Langenbrunner’s ability to process the game will be a critical addition to the Bruins.

“Things that you get away with in lower levels, they get smaller and smaller with the things you can get away with at this level. I’m going to point those things out to them so they can get those good habits in their game.”

Langenbrunner will work under Jay Pandolfo, who was promoted to director of player development. They are not just former New Jersey teammates. They have become fast friends, with a shared California vacation this June.

A month after Langenbrunner expressed his interest to Pandolfo in working for the Bruins, he met with general manager Don Sweeney. The Bruins officially hired Langenbrunner Saturday. He has been with the Bruins during the three-team Prospects Challenge here.

Langenbrunner, who retired as a player in January of 2014, spent last year reconnecting with his family. In Minnesota, Langenbrunner served as a coach for his kids’ youth teams.

Upon decompression, Langenbrunner realized he wanted to stay in the pro game. The league wide acceleration of player development was his opportunity to merge back into the league.

“You get the itch again to be involved,” Langenbrunner said. “As a player, you’re so focused on that, you don’t really know what’s going on over here and not knowing what that fit is. For me, this is something that makes a lot of sense. You get to see a lot of different sides of it, from the coaching standpoint of being around the kids and being in some of those meetings in the management side. I find it fascinating and a great learning experience to see what the fit is for me.”

In some ways, Langenbrunner was a pioneer. Most Americans of his generation played college hockey. Langenbrunner, Dallas’s second-round pick in 1993, played junior for the OHL’s Peterborough Petes.

Langenbrunner’s junior career helped him crack the NHL full-time in 1996-97, when he played for Hitchcock and current Bruins assistant Doug Jarvis, then on the Dallas bench. Langenbrunner’s gritty style helped him become a favorite of his coaches at each stop. It didn’t hurt that he learned the game the right way, from coaches like Hitchcock and teammates such as Joe Nieuwendyk, Guy Carbonneau, Mike Keane, and Brian Skrudland.

Langenbrunner will be the point man for on-site visits in monitoring the organization’s Western prospects, including Jake DeBrusk (Swift Current), Brandon Carlo (Tri-City), Danton Heinen (Denver), and Anders Bjork (Notre Dame). Langenbrunner will make visits to Providence to assist Pandolfo, Bruce Cassidy, and Kevin Dean.

After practices and games, Langenbrunner will meet with the team’s prospects. He will offer counsel on their play and remind them of the good habits they’ll need.

Langenbrunner was a veteran of 18 NHL seasons, which spanned two stints with the Dallas Stars and time with the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues. Over his career he played 1,109 regular season games and another 146 playoff games. In addition, he won a Stanley Cup with the Stars and the Devils during his career.