The Pittsburgh Penguins lost goaltending coach Mike Bales to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, but quickly filled the void by announcing the promotion of Mike Buckley.
Buckley goes from the Penguins’ goalie development coach, a position he held for the past four years to the goaltender coach in Mike Sullivan’s staff.
“We are excited to have Mike Buckley join the Pittsburgh staff,” said Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford in a statement.
“He has tutored our young goalies, especially Matt Murray, for a number of years, making this a seamless transition for our group. We certainly appreciate the contributions from Mike Bales throughout his time with our club. He was invaluable to our team, and especially our goaltenders, during our Stanley Cup runs the past two seasons.”
Now, new details are emerging about how Bales’ time in Pittsburgh ended.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Suffice to say, Mike Bales was surprised when Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford and coach Mike Sullivan pulled him into an office this past Thursday, the day after the team’s Stanley Cup parade, and told Bales he was out as the team’s goaltending coach.
“I wasn’t expecting that coming off two Cups in a row,” Bales explained in a phone interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Saturday night.
Interesting times for the Penguins as it concerns to their goaltending.