Hamilton Bulldogs welcome in former NHL vet, Jay McKee, as new head coach
HAMILTON, Ontario — The Hamilton Bulldogs have endured a tremendous amount of ineptitude in years past, with numerous playoff exits, and countless disappointing finishes. However, there seems to be hope on the horizon for the Bulldogs with the team welcoming in a new bench boss, Jay McKee.
Jay McKee was born in Kingston, Ontario, spending most of his childhood in Loyalist, Ontario before getting his official start in hockey later. In 1993, his dreams came to fruition when he was selected in the first round of the OHL draft by the Sudbury Wolves.
During McKee’s four years in the OHL (two with Sudbury, two with Niagara Falls), he accumulated 14 goals, 61 assists, and over 340 penalty minutes in 180 games. Including a OHL Second Team All-Star selection following the end of his final year with the Niagara Falls Thunder.
Doing all this earned McKee a nod in the 1995 NHL Draft, where he would end up being selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round (14th overall). From there McKee would become one of the premier shutdown defensemen of his era, playing in 802 regular season games with the Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, he even won the Eastern Conference Championship with the Sabres in 1999 and is still remembered to this day as one of the NHL’s best shot-blockers of his generation.
Not only does McKee have an extensive playing career, but this isn’t his first time coaching either. Since retiring from the NHL, McKee has made head coaching stops with the Rochester Americans (2011-2012), Erie Otters (2014-2015), and most recently, the Kitchener Rangers (2015-2019).
In the Americans’ lone season with McKee at the helm, they finished second in the North Division with a 36-26-10-4 record and ended the campaign with 86 points. While with the Erie Otters, McKee was hired on as an assistant and helped lead the (Connor McDavid-led) Otters to a 50-14-4 record, and 104 points, respectively, giving them the best record in the Midwest Division. Unfortunately, Erie would end up losing to the Oshawa Generals in the J. Ross Robertson Cup finals, and McKee would go on to take over for the Kitchener Rangers in 2015.
While he was with the Kitchener Rangers from 2016-2020, he amassed a .533 winning percentage with the club, and led them to three postseason appearances. Most notably of these appearances was a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2017-18, where they would end up losing to Sault Ste. Marie 4-3.
Coming off an impressive four seasons with the Rangers, and a well-respected NHL career, there may be no person better suited for the position than Jay McKee. Even the Hamilton Bulldogs president and general manager, Steve Staios, said the following on the hire,
“Jay brings the type of character, leadership, and experience to lead our young men forward both on and off the ice… Our coaching staff all have experience at the NHL level as players and all showed commitment and leadership through their playing careers.”
The hiring of McKee as the Bulldogs new head coach came at the same time as the team announcing the rest of the coaching staff. Along with Jay, Hamilton was also able to reel-in McKee’s lead assistant from Kitchener and former NHL veteran Andreas Karlson, who, following his storied come-up in Sweden, spent time with the Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning in his 10 year NHL career before moving on to coaching. Bulldogs assistant coach from the 2019-20 season, Andrew Campbell, will return to his role with the team.
McKee will take over as the fifth head coach in franchise history for the Hamilton Bulldogs, and is set to lead a group that’s itching for success leading into the 2021-22 OHL season.
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