Gerard Gallant to coach Team Canada at Spengler Cup

December 13, 2024 - 12:44pm

New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant, center top, looks on during the first period of Game 7 against the New Jersey Devils in an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Monday, May 1, 2023, in Newark, N.J. (Adam Hunger/AP)

Hockey Canada has named Gerard Gallant head coach of Canada’s team for the 2024 Spengler Cup, set for Dec. 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland.

Gallant, from Summerside, P.E.I., will lead Canada at the tournament for the first time and is joined by assistants Dave Hakstol (Warburg, Alta.), Mike Kelly (Shamrock, P.E.I.) and Johan Lundskog (Visby, Sweden).

Gallant coached Canada to gold at the 2021 world championship and previously served as an assistant at the 2007 and 2017 tournaments. His NHL resume includes stints as head coach with Columbus, Florida, Vegas and the New York Rangers.

Canada last won gold at the Spengler Cup in 2019.

Hakstol, the former head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken, has twice won silver as an assistant at the world championship. Kelly, who worked alongside Gallant in Vegas and Florida, helped Canada win gold at the 2021 worlds. Lundskog is in his first season as an associate coach with Switzerland’s SC Rapperswil-Jona.

Canada opens the tournament against host HC Davos on Dec. 26.

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