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Report: Hartley agrees to five-year deal with Latvian national team

Bob Hartley

Bob Hartley

AP

Former NHL coach Bob Hartley reportedly has a new long-term contract.

According to Martin Merk of the IIHF website, Hartley has agreed to a five-year deal to coach the Latvian national team, after original reports stating that he took the gig began surfacing last winter.

From the IIHF:

The Latvians plan with Hartley for the new Olympic cycle after having tightly missed out on qualifying on PyeongChang 2018 before. The former Stanley Cup winner joined the Latvians last spring and led the team at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Germany and France where it finished in 10th place.

Hartley is the second former NHL coach after Ted Nolan (2011-2014) to lead the Latvian men’s national team. He led the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup win in 2001 and later also coached the Atlanta Thrashers and the Calgary Flames. In 2015 he won the Jack Adams Award as NHL head coach of the year but was fired in May 2016.

Hartley has 944 games worth of experience coaching in the NHL. He was behind the bench when the Flames made the playoffs in 2015, defying the odds to reach the second round before they were eliminated.

The Flames took a step back the following season, missing the playoffs. Hartley was eventually let go.

Related: Treliving cites ‘style of play’ and poor special teams among reasons for firing Hartley