Former Grizz captain Dineen will assist Utah's new coach

WEST VALLEY CITY — Gord Dineen officially returns today to the Utah Grizzlies, for whom he was once captain and player/assistant coach, where he will be announced as the team's assistant coach. Dineen retains a position he held with the Phoenix Coyotes' top affiliate in Springfield last season.

Utah's new head coach will also be announced today at a 10 a.m. news conference at the E Center.

The new coach is expected to come from a candidate group that includes Kelowna Rockets (WHL) coach Marc Habscheid, former Springfield coach Marty McSorley, former Coyote player and current Colorado assistant Rick Tocchet and Phoenix assistant coach Pat Conacher.

Habscheid, it was reported on Monday, is leaving Kelowna for as-yet unannounced opportunities.

McSorley recently told the Coyotes he hoped to "grow from that role that I had" as Springfield assistant, so he is unlikely to come to Utah.

Conacher is a good bet to get the Utah job.

Like McSorley, he is a close friend of Phoenix managing partner Wayne Gretzky, having played with the "Great One" in Edmonton in 1983-84 and with Los Angeles from 1992-95. He was among several Gretzky pals, including McSorley, to play on a barnstorming team of NHLers 10 years ago during the league's last player lockout — a situation the NHL again faces for the 2004-05 season.

Conacher has been a Coyotes' assistant since 2000-01 after being a coach with the Kelowna junior team in 1999-2000. He and Grizzly free agent Jarrod Skalde, who is expected to soon re-sign with Utah, played on the 1994-95 Calgary Flames together.

Conacher has worked with the Grizzlies' new general manager, Laurence Gilman, who remains the Coyotes' assistant general manager. Gilman was named Grizzlies' GM last Tuesday and was responsible for choosing the Utah team's coaching staff — in less than a week, meaning he likely picked people he knew.

Dineen is the Grizzlies' franchise leader in games played at 440 and is a favorite of team co-owner David Elmore, who lobbied hard to get him on the coaching staff when the Grizzlies changed affiliates in April, dropping Dallas and pairing with the Coyotes for the next three years. Dineen, a 15-year NHL veteran, was team captain when the Denver Grizzlies won the IHL Turner Cup in 1994-95 and was captain for most of the next five seasons in Utah.

Dineen was assistant coach for the AHL Louisville Panthers in 2000-01 and head coach at Macon and Richmond in the ECHL before becoming the Springfield assistant to McSorley last season.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com