Florida Panthers Behind The Bench: Assistant Coaches pt. 2

As the Panthers’ rookies play in their first two games, taking the win over the Predators and a loss to the Hurricanes, this week, I continue my look at the assistant coaches. Tuomo Ruutu is a former NHL player, while Myles Fee played in the MJHL and ECAC-W. Both bring a different amount of experience to the table, with Ruutu playing as recently as the 2015-2016 season with the Devils, while Fee has been coaching in some capacity since 2008-2009. Ruutu’s playing experience in the modern NHL and Fee’s sharp eyes from his extensive time spent as a video coach bring valuable insight to the bench.

Tuomo Ruutu:

Ruutu was a 9th overall pick in the 2001 NHL draft and was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks. He spent four seasons with Chicago before spending the next seven with the Hurricanes and rounded out his NHL career with the New Jersey Devils, where he played three seasons. Over the course of his career, he scored 346 points, 148 goals with 198 assists. Ruutu also had plenty of success playing on international teams. He got ten medals in 12 tournaments while representing Finland, including gold medals at the 2000 IIHF U18 World Championship and the 2011 IIHF World Championship, as well as bronze medals at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. Tuomo’s first stint at coaching was for the 2018-2019 U20 Finland team, where he was assistant coach. In addition to serving as an assistant coach for the U20 Finland team, Ruutu joined the New York Rangers as a development coach for the 2019-2020 season. The Rangers promoted him to assistant director of player development the following year. However, on June 29th, 2021, he was named an assistant coach for the Florida Panthers. While coaching for the U20 Finland team, Ruutu had a chance to coach 2020 Panther Draft Pick Anton Lundell, who had a breakout performance this year in playoffs. Since joining the Panthers’ staff, Tuomo Ruutu has not been coaching the U20 Finland team. Although he hasn’t been coaching for very long, he’s been very successful.

Myles Fee:

While Fee never played in the NHL, he’s been a coach in the league since the 2008-2009 season, during which he was the video coach for the New York Rangers. He then spent the next seven seasons with the Edmonton Oilers as their video coach. In 2016, he joined the Charlotte Checkers coaching staff as their video coach and was on staff when they won the Calder Cup in the 2018-2019 season. Following that, he spent three seasons on staff with the Sabers as their video coach before finally landing in Florida after he was named an assistant coach on August 10th, 2022. At the international level, he served as the video coach for Team Europe during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey where Paul Maurice served as the assistant coach. With so much time spent analyzing video, I’d imagine that Fee has a keen eye for detail and reads the game extremely well. He brings a unique perspective to the bench with so much experience watching the game from a different point of view.

Florida’s assistant coaching staff is filled with a mix of experience from both the player side and the coaching side. I do think that having two assistants who had previously won Stanley Cups has helped contribute to Florida’s recent playoff success. No one knows better what it takes to win than those who have already done it. Having one coach who’s familiar with ice with modern NHL brings in experience with the current day game, and an assistant who has a keen eye for detail from being a long-time video coach has proved to be a recipe for success. One of my favorite quotes from a coach is from Nebraska Volleyball Head Coach John Cook when he speaks about his own team playing in the best volleyball conference in the country, “Iron sharpens iron.” In order to be the best, you have to beat the best, and having coaches who have that experience is vital for a team with big aspirations.

Up next week: I conclude my preview of the coaching staff, Miscellaneous Coaches: Goaltending, Assistant Video, and Skills.