The Hershey Bears officially introduced Derek King as the 29th head coach in franchise history on Wednesday morning. The Bears held a press conference hosted by Zack Fisch, the play-by-play voice of the club, featuring King and Bryan Helmer, Hershey’s Vice President of Hockey Operations.
King, 58, has received his second opportunity to be an AHL head coach after leading the Rockford IceHogs for parts of four seasons (2018-2022). He was also previously the interim head coach of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks during the 2021-22 campaign and stayed with Chicago as an assistant for the past three years.
After parting ways with the Blackhawks earlier this offseason, King found himself searching for a new job and turned to a few familiar faces.
“The whole process is amazing,” King said Wednesday. “A text message to a player that’s played here, Garrett Mitchell, and a phone call to an old teammate. You don’t have a job, and you start looking, hunting for jobs. It’s not easy out there. There are a lot of good candidates. There are probably a lot of good candidates who were already coaches here. I kept trying and reached out, and here I am. So thanks to Garrett and Helmsy.”
Mitchell, a former fan favorite with the Bears and now an oft-color analyst alongside Fisch, played under King for three years with the IceHogs towards the end of his playing days. Mitchell, a captain for three seasons with the Bears, was also Rockford’s captain for two seasons.
King knows Helmer well as the two were teammates on the 1999-00 St. Louis Blues. The Blues went 51-19-12 that season, taking home the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team.
“I’d like to thank the Washington Capitals, obviously a big part of the interviewing,” King continued. “Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, obviously showing their support. And the fans, the crazy fans, right? I haven’t been back here in a while, but I coached here. I remember playing here, and it was a tough place to play back then.”
King will take over from a Todd Nelson regime that brought two Calder Cups to Hershey in three years. The Bears’ roster will be very different heading into the 2025-26 season as many of the club’s veterans from those Cup-winning teams have moved on this summer, and an influx of Capitals prospects are ready to make their first jump to the pros.
“The big thing here for me is I’m an honest guy,” King said. “I’m fair. I have an open-door policy. I expect players to work hard and be humble. We don’t need no big egos around here. I know you guys have won it and that’s great, but now it’s time to win it again. So, for me as a coach, I really believe in that, just working hard and being humble.
“We’re going to have a little bit of a younger squad this year. So the big thing is to create good habits as a player. I always believe habits will protect you, and this is what I’m going to strive for: to teach these kids good habits, and hopefully that will help them. All the mistakes I made as a player, I’m going to tell them, don’t do that.”
King confirmed he chatted with both Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery and general manager Chris Patrick before getting the job. Both men have a vested interest in seeing Hershey succeed, not only from a Caps perspective but through their extensive past ties to the Bears.
“Obviously, there’s been success here,” King said. “They’ve built a really great program here. I’m not coming in here to throw elbows and change everything up. I’m here to help keep building it to even get better and hopefully to win it again. I feel this is like the 33rd NHL team, and it’s like an Original Six team. So, to get this job, I’m very excited and honored that they think that I can take the helm and run with it.”
The Bears are set to begin the 2025-26 season with their Home Opener against the Syracuse Crunch on October 11. King will likely meet some of his players this upcoming fall as the Capitals hold their typical rookie camp leading into training camp. The Bears will also have their own training camp and preseason later in the fall.
