The Kootenays will be well represented on Team Canada’s Spengler Cup team’s coaching staff this Christmas.

TSN today reports Cranbrook’s Scott Niedermayer will manage Canada’s defence on Castlegar-born head coach Travis Green’s coaching staff.

Niedermayer, 49, played 18 seasons in the NHL with New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks, winning four Stanley Cup titles, a Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy before being installed in the Hockey Hall of Fame after his retirement in 2010.

In 1,2263 NHL games, the cerebral, smooth skating Niedermayer amassed 172 goals and 588 assists and retired with a +167.

He also joined the Anaheim Ducks’ front office last February as a special advisor to the hockey operations department led by GM Pat Verbeek.

Green skated in 970 NHL games with the New York Islanders, Anaheim Ducks, Phoenix Coyotes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins between 1992 and 2007, racking up 193 goals and 455 assists.

He was also head coach of the Vancouver Canucks for 314 games between 2017 and 2022, after coaching in the WHL and AHL before that.

Coyotes legend Shane Doan is the Spengler Cup team manager.

This will be the first time the Spengler Cup has been played since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada captured gold in the last tournament in 2019.

The 2022 Spengler Cup begins Boxing Day in Davos, Switzerland and can be seen live on TSN.

Team Canada is usually comprised of Canadian professionals playing in Europe along with a few AHL players.

Lead image: Scott Niedermayer was honoured by the City of Cranbrook in 2013.  e-KNOW file photo

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