The Ottawa Senators hired Paul MacLean as the new head coach, the team announced Tuesday.
The move comes less than two months after the Senators fired head coach Cory Clouston. MacLean served as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings for six years and helped the team win a Stanley Cup in 2008.
"He [MacLean] has been a winner during his coaching career and comes to Ottawa from an organization that has a history of both success on the ice and in developing players," Senators general manager Bryan Murray said in the team's release. "He is a competitive person and we expect that our teams will display that same trait night-in and night-out."
In 2002, Murray, who was then Anaheim's general manager, hired MacLean as an assistant coach. MacLean's two seasons in Anaheim saw the Ducks make the first Stanley Cup Final appearance, which ended in a loss to the New Jersey Devils.
"I think every player in the League wants to succeed … they don't want to be bad, they don't want to miss playoffs — they want to be successful," MacLean told NHL.com. "I'm going to try and bring some direction and leadership and empower them to make them better. There's a great core of players and a crop of younger players, so we'll find the good players."
MacLean played in the 1980 Winter Olympics as a member of Canada's national team. He started his NHL career with the St. Louis Blues and spent seven years with the Winnipeg Jets before going to the Red Wings and then back to the Blues.
The Senators are coming off a series of failed seasons. After making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007 only to lose to the Anaheim Ducks, the Senators failed to make it past the first round a year later and have not made the playoffs since.
MacLean also coached the Peoria Rivermen and the Kansas City Blades of the International Hockey League and the Quad City Mallards of the United Hockey League, who won a championship in 2000-01.
