The yet-to-be-named Las Vegas National Hockey League team added another piece to the organization Monday with the announcement that Misha Donskov has been hired as the club’s director of hockey operations.
Donskov joins majority owner Bill Foley’s group from Hockey Canada’s Men’s National Team, where he served as manager, hockey operations/analytics & video. Donskov had assumed a new role with Canada’s Men’s National Teams in July 2016 when he was appointed to assistant coach/hockey operations.
Donskov was noted for his work integrating analytics into Hockey Canada’s Men’s program.
“Analytics, for us, is another piece of the puzzle,” said Donskov in April. “It’s additional information for us, an additional resource for us to present to our managers and to our coaches and ultimately to help us develop players and win hockey games.”
The Montreal native has worked in various roles in the Canadian Hockey League as an associate/assistant coach and executive with the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights and Ottawa 67’s.
Donskov lays claim to gold medals from the 2016 and 2015 world championships, the 2015 world junior championships, and the 2013 Under-18 Team at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament. He has also spent time working in various capacities with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets and Atlanta Thrashers.
The Vegas franchise hired Kelly McCrimmon away from the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings last week to take on an assistant general manager role under George McPhee, who was named general manager on July 13.
The puck is set to drop in Las Vegas for the 2017-18 season.
