EVERETT — A familiar face behind the Everett Silvertips is remaining there.
Long-time fan favorite Mitch Love signed a two-year extension to remain as an assistant coach for the team he once captained.
“I’m just excited to expand my responsibilities here in Everett,” Love said. “I’m thankful for the organization to feel the need for me to be a part of the franchise moving forward and I’m excited to get going here.”
Along with the two-year extension, which will encompass Love’s seventh and eighth seasons as an Everett assistant, the club announced he will be adding the title “assistant to the general manager” to his position. Love has longed for the opportunity to learn the business and player acquisition sides of hockey, and will work closely with general manager Garry Davidson and chief operating officer Zoran Rajcic in his new role.
“I’m just trying to draw on my experience of being in this league the last six years and my experiences throughout different hockey circles of just helping the player procurement side of things with Garry and (Bil) La Forge and our scouts here with my knowledge there,” Love said.
“Garry has been very good to me over the last couple years in terms of getting input on players in our league from a coach’s perspective. We’re always doing pre-scouts and you hear different rumblings here and there from different hockey people on the inner circle of things that I can bring to the table to our management group. I’m excited about that opportunity because it’s definitely an avenue of the game that I want to continue to grow at — not just the coaching side, but to learn how things work on the management side.”
Love was a member of the original Silvertips team in 2003-04 that won the franchise’s lone Western Hockey League Western Conference title. The following season he was the team’s captain. After completeting his junior hockey eligibility, the Quesnel, British Columbia, native played six professional seasons in the American Hockey League, the ECHL and the now-defunct Central Hockey League.
He hopes to bring a “dressing room” perspective to management, a role unique to his primary job as a coach.
“Since the dawn of this organization, there may be nobody who bleeds Silvertips hockey more than Mitch and it’s important that we provide an environment for our players that includes his familiar voice and direction,” Davidson said in a press release. “Away from the bench, Mitch’s thirst for growth has also opened doors to handle important hockey operations related duties for us. He has been impressive and will continue to serve in that role. As we restructure our full time bench to two coaches, we’re excited to continue implementing his expertise with developing defensemen.”
Shifting from three coaches to two will also shift more coaching responsibilities onto Love’s shoulders as new head coach Dennis Williams replaces Kevin Constantine and former assistant Brennan Sonne is now a head coach in France.
“This year I’ll have a little bit more on my plate in terms of things that don’t get looked at in the hockey business,” Love said. “The billeting and the education and the traveling stuff that I work closely on with (equipment manager) James Stucky and management to make sure we’re organized with that and that we’re giving our players the best opportunity to perform at their best.”
Bajkov invited to Golden Knights camp
Silvertips forward Patrick Bajkov has been invited to participate in the Vegas Golden Knights’ development camp, to be held from June 27-July 1.
Bajkov, 19, was Everett’s leading scorer with a career-high 78 points in 71 games during the 2016-17 season.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
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