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Flames Hire Ftorek and Woodcraft

August 7, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Abbotsford Heat News Release


Calgary, AB - The Calgary Flames announced today that they have hired Robbie Ftorek as the Assistant Coach with the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League and Todd Woodcroft as Scouting Director.

"In light of our commitment to rebuilding, and providing our young players with a chance to play, there is even greater importance being placed on development and getting our prospects ready to contribute as quickly as possible in Calgary," said Flames General Manager Jay Feaster. "In support of that mission, we are thrilled to be able to add such an experienced coach and teacher as Robbie Ftorek to our organization. Robbie's experience at every level of hockey, from the CHL to the AHL to the NHL, provides our players, and our coaching staffs, an incredible wealth of hockey knowledge on which to draw, and we believe he and Troy Ward will do a great job together in developing players for the Flames."

Robbie Ftorek will work under Abbotsford Heat Head Coach Troy Ward. Ftorek has an incredible coaching resume which includes two years each with the Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils and the Boston Bruins, while most recently working as the bench boss of the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-12. Ftorek has also led the Albany River Rats to win the Calder Cup as their head coach in 1995. As a player, Ftorek played over 700 career games split between the WHA and NHL and has numerous accolades including league MVP and scoring records. In 1991, he was enshrined as a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and has represented the United States at the Olympics, Canada Cups and World Championships. He has his name engraved on the Stanley Cup twice.

Todd Woodcroft has been hired in the newly created role of Scouting Director. In this role, Todd will assist Director of Amateur Scouting Todd Button and Assistant General Manager of Player Personnel John Weisbrod. Todd most recently scouted in Europe for the LA Kings and formerly with the Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals organizations. Todd will be based out of Minnesota, and will report directly to John Weisbrod.

"John Weisbrod and I have been discussing for some time now a way to bridge our European and North American scouting operations, and we are confident Todd Woodcroft is the perfect person to help us build that bridge by increasing our cross-over coverage in Europe and North America, while also being available to us for special assignment work," said Feaster. "Todd's extensive experience in Europe, and particularly Russia, will be invaluable for us as we continue to place even greater emphasis on drafting and developing our own players."

In addition to the two hiring's, Craig Conroy has added the day-to-day hockey related management responsibilities in Abbotsford overseeing Head Coach Troy Ward and his staff to his duties.

"The next step in the continued development of Craig Conroy as a front office executive for our hockey club is to get him day-to-day management responsibility in the AHL," said Feaster. "Given that we have asked John Weisbrod to spend more time with our NHL coaches and players this season, as well as see even more NHL games, we believe the opportunity exists to transition Craig further into the hockey operations in Abbotsford. Craig will continue to report directly to me, and Troy Ward will report directly to Craig as we continue to add to the depth and overall quality of our hockey department."



American Hockey League Stories from August 7, 2013


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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