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Hartsburg named Senators head coach

Fri 13th, June 2008

Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - The Ottawa Senators named Craig Hartsburg head coach on Friday, signing him to a three-year contract.

Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hartsburg arrives from Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League, for whom he served as head coach for the last four years.

The 48-year-old Ontario native brings with him plenty of coaching experience at the NHL level. It includes three seasons as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks (1995-98) and two-plus seasons with Anaheim (1998-2000), during which he posted a 184-190-69 record along with three playoff appearances.

"I'd like to thank Mr. Melnyk and Bryan (Murray) for this great opportunity," Hartsburg said. "It's certainly an honor to be coaching in the National Hockey League again, but to me it's an even bigger honor to be coaching in Ottawa. I can't wait to get started."

Murray, the club's general manager, held a dual role as head coach late last season due to the firing of John Paddock after less than one year at the helm. Ottawa began the year 16-4-1, but sputtered to a seventh-place finish in the Eastern Conference and were swept in the first round of the playoffs by Pittsburgh.

"We really needed someone to handle the scrutiny of the Ottawa media, we needed someone with high expectations of himself and the team," noted Murray about the philosophy behind his choice.

A first-round draft pick of the North Stars in 1979, Hartsburg played his entire pro career for Minnesota, compiling 98 goals and 315 assists in 570 games through 10 often injury-shortened seasons.

After his 1989 retirement, the offensive-minded defenseman spent one season as an assistant coach with Minnesota and four with the Philadelphia Flyers. Hartsburg then served one campaign as head coach of Guelph in the OHL, winning 47 of 66 games before moving on to Chicago.

In 2001, he returned to his former junior club in Sault Ste. Marie to become head coach, but left after one season to become a Flyers assistant from 2002-04.

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