Capitals promote Scott Allen to assistant coach

To fill the vacant spot left by Scott Arniel when he joined the associate coach role of the Winnipeg Jets, the Washington Capitals looked within their organization and promoted Scott Allen to assistant coach. Allen was previously head coach of the Hershey Bears.

Allen will work primarily with the forwards and the penalty kill and join assistant coaches Kevin McCarthy, Blaine Forsythe, and goaltending coach Scott Murray on head coach Peter Laviolette’s staff.

The 56 year old spent the previous three seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Hershey Bears. Allen served as an assistant coach for two seasons before being named Hershey’s head coach ahead of las season.

Under Allen, the Bears finished with a record of 34-32-6-4, clinching a Calder Cup Playoff berth and ranked tied for 11th in the AHL in goals against with 209.

A native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Allen brings more than 25 years of professional coaching experience which includes assistant positions with the New York Islanders from 2009-12, the Florida Panthers from 2016-17, and the Arizona Coyotes from 2017-19.

With Arizona, Allen worked with the Coyotes defensemen and penalty kill. In the 2018-19 season, the Coyotes ranked tied for first in the NHL in penalty kill percentage at 85.0 percent and tied for fifth in goals against per game with 2.68.

In Allen’s lone season with Florida, the Panthers finished with the second best penalty kill percentage in the NHL at 85.3 percent.

Allen has coached in the AHL for 14 seasons, serving as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Rampage (2002-04, 2014-15), the Lowell Lock Monsters/Omaha Ak Sar Ben Knights (2004-07), the Quad City Flames (2007-09), the Peoria Rivermen (2012-13), the Chicago Wolves (2013-14), and the Portland Pirates (2015-16).

Allen has additionally served as an interim head coach for parts of three seasons including with San Antonio in 2002-03 and 2003-04, and with Portland in 2015-16.

In addition to his NHL and AHL coaching experience, Allen has worked in the ECHL as an assistant and head coach, beginning as an assistant in 1996 with the Johnstown Chiefs. Allen was named Johnstown’s head coach in 1997 and went on to guide the Chiefs to three straight Kelly Cup Playoff appearances from 1999-00 to 2001-02, reaching the American Conference Championship twice.

Prior to coaching, Allen played professionally for 10 seasons in the All American Hockey League, Atlantic Coast Hockey League, Colonial Hockey League, Central Hockey League, and ECHL. He played forward and won back to back Kelly Cups with the Carolina Thunderbirds in 1989 and the Greensboro Monarchs in 1990.

Allen had a lot of success in the minors and he looks to bring that success up to the big leagues for his best opportunity yet.