Mark Crawford gets a promotion

The Chicago Blackhawks have promoted Mark Crawford to an assistant coach position, who was previously one of the club’s assistant coaches.

This is what the Illinois organization said Wednesday on its Twitter account. The Hawks have also announced the appointment of Rob Cookson as assistant coach.

Crawford is one of the “coaches” who survived the November 6 purge in Chicago. That day, the staff showed coach Jeremy Coleton, as well as his assistants Thomas Mittel and Sheldon Brokebank, the way out.

Derek King, who ran the school club of the Black Hawks League of America, was then appointed interim head coach of the National Hockey League (NHL) club. Since this change of course, the team has racked up three wins in the same number of matches. Before Tuesday night’s showdown, the Hawks were 4-9-2.

Back at Crawford, the 60-year-old has been one of the assistants behind the Blackhawks’ bench since the 2019-20 campaign. The previous year, he held the position of interim head coach with the Ottawa Senators, where he was an assistant coach for just over two seasons.

The former NHL winger was also the head coach of the Quebec Nordics (1994-1995), the Colorado Avalanche (1995 to 1998), the Vancouver Canucks (1998 to 2006), the Los Angeles Kings (2006-2008) and the Dallas Stars (2009-2011).