Special assistant to GM named
NHL veteran Daccord joins Armstrong’s staff
The first addition to new Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong’s hockey operations staff is Brian Daccord, a former goaltending coach with the Boston Bruins and goaltender scouting and development consultant with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Daccord’s hiring was announced by the Coyotes on Friday. In a separate decision, the team parted ways with former assistant to the general manager Jake Goldberg, who had worked on previous GM John Chayka’s staff.
Daccord, who goes back 20 years with Armstrong to their days when Armstrong was head coach of the AHL Providence Bruins, will serve as special assistant to the general manager and director of goaltending operations.
His roles will include overseeing scouting, development and performance of goaltenders in the Coyotes organization, running the developmental and rookie camps and using his Master’s degree in sports management to help structure the different departments of hockey operations.
“This is exactly what I’ve been doing for 25 years,” Daccord said. “Building the experience and the knowhow to get to this point. When Bill went over the job description and I looked at it on a piece of paper, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I said ‘This is exactly what I do. This is who I am and what I do.’”
The Montreal native has coached in Germany and played professionally in Switzerland. He has owned and operated a goaltending development company that has produced several NHL draft picks, and authored a book on hockey goaltending that sold more than 40,000 copies.
“Brian will be a tremendous asset for us. He is an extremely knowledgeable hockey person and a goaltending expert,” Armstrong said in a statement from the Coyotes, adding that Daccord made a big impact with the Maple Leafs. “Brian has a great work ethic and is a man of integrity. Adding him to our club was a top priority and he will be instrumental in helping us change our culture here.”
Daccord’s son Joey played in college at Arizona State and is the first Sun Devil to play in the NHL. Drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 2015, the younger Daccord made his NHL debut in net in April of 2019 against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Coyotes will retain goaltending coach Corey Schwab, who will enter his fourth season with the team and has worked extensively with current goalies Darcy Kuemper, Antti Raanta and Adin Hill, and goaltending development coach Zac Bierk, who has been with the Coyotes for two seasons and oversees prospect development at the AHL, junior and collegiate levels.
“There’s definitely going to be additional announcements (from Armstrong) in terms of who’d he’d like be a part of his team,” Coyotes president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez said Friday.