HERSHEY, PA — Todd Nelson is one of the greatest head coaches in American Hockey League history. Now, after three years of incredible success in Hershey, Nelson could potentially return to the NHL next season.
Nelson was reportedly in the mix to be the Vancouver Canucks’ new head coach earlier in the month — a job that eventually went to former NHL defenseman Adam Foote. Three NHL teams still have bench boss openings, including the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Seattle Kraken. If a head coaching position doesn’t pan out, Nelson could also get consideration as an assistant coach, perhaps in Washington if Mitch Love, who has interviewed with Boston, Pittsburgh, and Seattle, lands one of those gigs.
Thursday, when asked if he had any NHL interviews lined up or if he’d be returning to Hershey next season, Nelson admitted he wasn’t sure what the future holds.
“There’s been rumblings and that, but I haven’t heard anything,” Nelson said. “My phone, I haven’t answered my phone since [Wednesday] night (when we were eliminated). I have it on mute. I see there’s a lot of text messages there, but I don’t want to be interrupted with the exit meetings that we’re going through. I don’t know what’s going to happen. As of right now, I’m head coach of the Hershey Bears.”
How Nelson isn’t currently in the NHL or hasn’t gotten stronger consideration in the past is a bit of a mystery. Generally beloved by his players, Nelson’s success in the American League is virtually unmatched. Nelson’s 450 regular-season wings rank fifth all-time in AHL history. His 73 playoff victories are third most, two behind Frederick “Bun” Cook (75) for second and nine victories behind John Paddock (82) for first. Nelson, who recently completed his third season with the Bears, has won three Calder Cup championships as a head coach — two of which came in his first two seasons in Hershey (2023 and 2024).
“There’s a lot of turnover in this league, so, you know, our coaching philosophy as a group, and me personally, is just having the guys wanting to come to the rink every day and be part of a family atmosphere, working hard, coming here to work hard, make themselves better,” Nelson said. “But you have to do it in a fun environment. You have to not do it in an environment that when they wake up in the morning, they’re like, ‘Oh, god, I have to go to practice today.’ I want them to jump out of bed and say, ‘I want to get to practice and see the boys, see the coaches, and make myself better.'”
Since arriving in Hershey, Nelson has instituted the dreaded “Gauntlet.” When any player has a birthday, they have to skate through a line of excited players and coaches who toss ice, water, and whatever else they can find at them.
Nelson’s also held team cookouts and even participated in the team’s ROAR celebration in the locker room.
“I think that’s the most important thing, trying to create that culture,” Nelson said. “Everybody throws ‘culture’ around. There’s good and bad cultures. But that’s the culture we try to create and, you know, it’s served us well so far. It’s a tough league because you have guys that are breaking in, trying to take the next step. They’re all eager. And then you have older guys that are on their way out. And sometimes it’s tough for these older guys to accept that maybe their hockey playing days are over, so you have both spectrums that you have to deal with. So, at the end of it all, you want to make sure that they want to come to the rink and have some fun, win some hockey games, and hopefully be successful winning a championship.”
Nelson believes his success in the minor leagues would translate to the NHL, albeit with some differences. And he would know. Before arriving in Hershey, Nelson spent four seasons as an assistant coach for the NHL’s Dallas Stars and was part of Rick Bowness’ staff when the Stars made the Stanley Cup Final in 2019-20. Nelson has some NHL head coaching experience, serving as interim head coach of the Edmonton Oilers beginning on Dec. 15, 2014. The club posted a 17-22-7 record in the season’s final 46 games. Nelson has also been an assistant coach with Atlanta (2008-10).
“It’s a bit different, but I know I’d try to institute that (culture),” Nelson said. “It’s different in the National Hockey League, just because in the minors, basically, this is all they have is their family here. In the National Hockey League, it’s a bit different. When you try to get a team together, so-and-so has to go do an endorsement for Rolex, somebody’s trying to design a new cologne. So it’s a bit different, but you know what? When I was in Dallas, with Jim Montgomery and Rick Bowness, they created that. And it’s just a bit different because everybody has families. We’re older, they’re going different ways. But you still can institute it.
“I firmly believe that the successful teams in the National Hockey League have that culture. And it’s just a matter of doing it maybe in a different way. You know, but we had a pig roast in Dallas, it was at Tyler Seguin’s place. I didn’t roast it. That was the problem. That’s why it wasn’t that successful. They had to cater it in. But anyways, we still got the team together and stuff. The job Rick Bowness did in the bubble or up in Edmonton, just having cameo appearances from celebrities and families, certainly helped out the guys. So you still can accomplish the same goal. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sports team or IBM or whatever. I think every leader can establish that culture.”
During his first three seasons as Bears’ head coach, Nelson led Hershey to 9 straight playoff series wins — an AHL record — before being swept and eliminated by the Charlotte Checkers in the Atlantic Division Finals on Wednesday. After all the winning, the quick exit stung.
“I went home, I was by myself, just watched a couple movies,” Nelson said. “I was going to watch Goodfellas. I started that, and it was just too depressing. So I watched a couple of 80s movies. Summer School was one of them, some light stuff.”
He added, “Going after three would have been fantastic, but it just didn’t work out. I look at the course of the season, it was a tough season, but we still finished first in our division. And, you know, we have three or four months to think about it. We’ll have to turn the page and move forward. It’ll be a different look with our team next year; we’ll be a lot younger. But I think just processing everything, it’s going to take a while. It’s tough. Like, I know what the expectations are of the organization and the city and the town of Hershey. From my standpoint, I felt that maybe personally I let people down, but you can’t win every year.”
Nelson knows that he’ll have a better perspective of what he and his team have accomplished with some time.
“I think over the course of summer, I’ll look back and view the three years as being pretty successful,” Nelson said. “To win one championship, it’s tough. Going back-to-back is incredible.”
And if his time in Hershey is over, he’ll look back on it fondly.
“It’s been a good run.”
