Avalanche hires Mark Letestu as new Colorado Eagles coach

One of the Colorado Avalanche’s important coaching vacancies has been filled.

The Avs hired Mark Letestu as the head coach of the Colorado Eagles, the club announced Saturday. Letestu has spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Letestu played 567 NHL games across 11 seasons with five teams, including two stints with the Blue Jackets. He was an undrafted free agent who spent a year at Western Michigan and then signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For the past three seasons, Letestu has been an assistant coach for Trent Vogelhuber, who played for Jared Bednar in 2015-16 when the then-Lake Erie Monsters won the Calder Cup as AHL champions. There are several other connections between the two franchises, stemming from Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland’s 16-year run in the Blue Jackets’ front office before arriving in Colorado.

Letestu will be reunited with Avs prospect Gavin Brindley, who was part of the return when Colorado traded Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the Blue Jackets last month.

The Avs still have a vacancy on Bednar’s staff after longtime assistant Ray Bennett was fired following the club’s first-round playoff loss to the Dallas Stars. Letestu is replacing Aaron Schneekloth, who was the Eagles’ head coach the past two seasons before taking an NHL assistant job with the Seattle Kraken.