Eagles Name Adam Pilotte, Josh Dubinsky Assistant Coaches

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QMJHL Cape Breton Eagles

Eagles Name Adam Pilotte, Josh Dubinsky Assistant Coaches

July 14, 2025 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Cape Breton Eagles News Release


(SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA) - It was announced today the Cape Breton Eagles have hired Adam Pilotte and Josh Dubinsky as assistant coaches ahead of the 2025-2026 regular season.

On his decision to hire both coaches, club general manager Sylvain Couturier said his main focus was to find candidates who had experience in player development.

"We have a young team, it's a new generation and I think bringing in two young guys with Jason will be a really good match," he said. "Both of these guys were highly recommended and they both have a lot of experience for their age."

When speaking on the club's new hires, majority owner Irwin Simon and club vice president Trevor Simon said "our new assistant coaches marks an exciting chapter. Their energy, enthusiasm, and relentless work ethic bring exactly the kind of culture we want to build-one rooted in passion, dedication, and a tireless commitment to our players. We're ready to get to work."

For the past five years, Adam Pilotte, 28, has owned and operated Advanced Player Development, a skills development camp in his hometown of Montreal where he holds contracts with local colleges, high performance camps and the Quebec U18 AAA league.

A McGill university graduate and former defenceman, Pilotte is currently completing a Masters degree in sports psychology.

"I think player development is a day to day thing, it's not just about practice and preparing in the summer," he said. "My pet-peeve when I was a player was when a coach would tell a player 'you can't do something'. I want to be the coach that helps players get to the next level, and this is the perfect opportunity for that. I was playing up until two years ago, we had a lot of players who played in the Q on my team so I am in tune with the modern systems played today and I think that will help me work well with the players in Cape Breton."

In the 2017-2018 season, Pilotte played for the Carleton Place Canadians of the CCHL under current Eagles head coach Jason Clarke.

Clarke said even when he was coaching Pilotte, he knew he would be a great coach one day.

"He has a really good feel for the game in all aspects, especially in skill development," Clarke said. "It was an easy decision for us to hire him, with my familiarity of him as a person and just knowing how dedicated he was as a player and how good of a coach he is going to be."

Pilotte said "Jason is a hard worker, he is always prepared, so it is going to be blast to work with him. He has high standards, but he upholds himself to those standards. I trust Jason a lot and he had nothing but great things to say about Cape Breton, about the Eagles and their staff so I can't wait to get started"

Josh Dubinsky, 27, will join the Eagles coaching staff this season after spending the last three seasons with the BCHL's Salmon Arm Silverbacks as assistant general manager for one season and assistant coach since 2022.

"I have always wanted to make the jump to major junior, so I am really excited for this new challenge," he said. "I am looking forward to working with a young talented group as we build toward something special."

Prior to joining the Silverbacks, Dubinsky (Chicago, IL), served as an assistant coach at Ridley College in the Midwest Prep Hockey League, the Kenai River Brown Bears in the North American Hockey League and the Omaha Lancers in the United States Hockey League.

Head coach Jason Clarke said Dubinsky was someone who was highly recommended to him and Couturier during the hiring process by mutuals across the hockey world.

"We went through the interview process with Josh and we were very impressed. He did a very good job developing players in Salmon Arm and he helped bring that team to a lot of success. With his track record, it was a very easy decision to bring him on board for the next few years."

Josh is the son of former NHL player, Steve Dubinsky, who played 375 career games with Chicago, Calgary, Nashville and St. Louis.

"(As a coach) I like to have good relationships with the players. I think I bring a modern approach to the game and I like to keep things fun. We are in the business of moving guys forward and that is what we are going to do."

Eagles training camp kicks off in one months time on August 15th at Centre 200.

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