The Nashville Predators have hired Mitch Korn as Director of Goaltending and parted ways with Assistant Coach Dan Hinote. See
Predators hire Mitch Korn as Director of Goaltending.
On May 29, the team announced the appointment of Mitch Korn as Director of Goaltending. In this role, Korn will “oversee the organization’s entire goaltending department, including Goaltending Coach Ben Vanderklok, Goaltending Development Coach Jason Barron and European Development Coach and Scout Pekka Rinne; work directly and remotely with the team’s goaltenders and prospects in Nashville, Milwaukee and overseas; and be involved in the scouting of professional and amateur goaltenders.”
Korn served as the Predators’ first goaltending coach for 16 seasons, under former head coach and current general manager Barry Trotz. He followed Trotz to each of his subsequent head coaching appointments, including the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2018. Korn returns to the Predators after six seasons as the Islanders’ director of goaltending, four of which were spent with Trotz as head coach.
During his remarkable 33-year NHL career, Korn’s goaltenders won five Vezina Trophies, three William M. Jennings Trophies, and two Hart Trophies. Korn’s goaltenders have also been selected to the first or second year-end All-Star and All-Rookie Teams nine times.
Predators part ways with assistant coach Dan Hinote. After Four Seasons
The Tennessean also reported this week that the Predators will not renew assistant coach Dan Hinote’s contract for the 2024-25 season.
Hinote has been an assistant with the Nashville Predators since 2020, and his enthusiastic, energetic demeanor has made him popular with both players and spectators. His primary role was to oversee the team’s penalty kill, which finished 18th in the league (78.9%) during his four years in Nashville.
Todd Richards and Derek MacKenzie, the Predators’ remaining assistant coaches, are expected to return next season, according to the franchise. With Hinote’s departure, Richards is the only assistant remaining from former head coach John Hynes’ staff. Last season, first-year head coach Andrew Brunette recruited MacKenzie to his staff to replace former assistant Dan Lambert, and he will most likely fill Hinote’s vacancy with another hand-picked hire to round out his coaching team.