He is back as the head coach.
After Todd Nelson’s father took him to the rink for the first time, he embarked on a career that has seen him win the Calder Cup as a player, assistant coach, and head coach—just the third person in AHL history to do so.
“Everyone plays hockey back home, including my dad and uncle,” Nelson remarked. “When I was three or four years old, my dad took me to the rink, and I just loved skating.”
Nelson claimed that everyone played hockey to pass the winter in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where he was born.
“There wasn’t much to do up there in the winter,” Nelson remarked. It’s extremely chilly up there. There were three channels, but only two were available.
According to Nelson, being drafted confirmed his life’s purpose.
Nelson stated, “That took me down a completely new path where I wanted to live in professional hockey.”
Nelson spent twelve years playing, mostly in the minor leagues, for different organizations. When Nelson was a Portland Pirates player in 1994, he raised the Calder Cup one time. Additionally, he had the opportunity to play in a few NHL games, during which he scored the Washington Capitals’ “one and only” NHL goal in the 1993–94 campaign.
