Who is Jeremy Colliton, the Blackhawks new head coach?

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After a rough start to the 2018-19 season, the Blackhawks "relieved" Joel Quenneville and assistants Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson of their coaching duties. The rest of the staff will remain on the team and Jeremy Colliton has been named the 38th head coach in franchise history.

But who exactly is Jeremy Colliton?

He was most recently the head coach of the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League, 12 games into his second season before being named Blackhawks head coach. He led the IceHogs to the 2018 AHL Western Conference Finals for the first time last season.

And at 33 he will become the youngest head coach currently in the NHL. He is also younger than Duncan Keith, Chris Kunitz, Corey Crawford and Cam Ward. He is also just four months older than Brent Seabrook.

More from the Blackhawks statement on the coaching changes:

Prior to joining the Blackhawks organization, Colliton spent four seasons as the head coach of Mora IK in Sweden (HockeyAllsvenskan). A native of Blackie, Alberta, Colliton guided his team to a league-best 35-13-4 record and 105 points during the 2016-17 season. Following the regular season, he led Mora IK to promotion to the Swedish Hockey League for the 2017-18 season after defeating Leksands IF in six games (4-2) of the best-of-seven series. Colliton joined the coaching ranks with Mora IK in an interim head coaching role during the 2013-14 season before taking over full-time the following season. In four seasons with Colliton behind the bench, Mora IK posted a 98-57-18 record.  

Colliton was drafted in the second round of the 2003 NHL Draft by the Islanders and played 57 games with the New York Islanders over five seasons (2005-09, 2010-11). 

He spent parts of six seasons (2005-09, 2010-12) in the AHL with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, recording 203 points (77G, 126A) in 326 career games. Additionally, he had stints with Rogle Angelholm (2009-10) in the Swedish Elite League and Mora IK (2013-14). He also had experience on the international stage, earning gold and silver medals while representing Canada at the 2005 and 2004 IIHF World U20 Junior Championships, respectively.

Colliton has big shoes to fill, following Quenneville who led the team to three Stanley Cups. But young managers are working in baseball, the NFL and college football. The Blackhawks are hopeful Colliton can have the same effect on the Blackhawks.

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