Kevin Constantine

Kevin Constantine
Date of birth	December 27, 1958
place of birth	International Falls , Minnesota , USA
size	178 cm
Weight	75 kg
position	goalkeeper
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft	1978 , 9th lap, 154th position Montréal Canadiens
Career stations
1977-1980	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Kevin Lars Constantine (born December 27, 1958 in International Falls , Minnesota ) is a former American ice hockey goalkeeper and current coach . In the National Hockey League , Constantine looked after the San Jose Sharks , Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils as head coach. Since June 2013 he has been the head coach of the Everett Silvertips in the Western Hockey League .

Career

During his three years in college, Constantine played the goalkeeper position at the Rose Polytechnic Institute in Indiana . Although it the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL Amateur Draft in 1978 selected in the ninth round at the 154th position, Constantine never played one game in the National Hockey League .

In 1985 he began his career as a coach. First he coached in the lower class United States Hockey League (USHL) and took a position as assistant coach in the International Hockey League (IHL). For the 1991/92 season Constantine received his first offer as head coach for an IHL team. In his first season he led the Kansas City Blades to win the Turner Cup . In the 1992/93 season he reached the second round of the playoffs with the team before he took over the post as head coach of the San Jose Sharks at the beginning of the 1993/94 season .

The Sharks had more than disappointed in their first two NHL seasons, but Constantine led the team straight away in the playoffs and eliminated in the first round, the No. 1 seeded Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference . In the shortened season 1994/95 he led the team again in the playoffs, but in his third season Constantine was dismissed from his office, as he could only win three games in the first 25 games. In the 1996/97 season he assisted Brian Sutter at the Calgary Flames .

After just one year, Constantine moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins , where he was again head coach of an NHL team. During his three years there, he fared similarly to San Jose. After two great years, where Constantine and the Penguins also managed to eliminate the best team of the regular season in the first playoff round in the 1998/99 season , the start of the third season was unexpectedly weak and so it was after 26 games removed from office. Constantine is still the only NHL coach who managed the feat of reaching the second playoff round with two teams seeded at No. 8.

After his release, the American took a short break and founded the Pittsburgh Forge, which took part in the NAHL championship from the 2001/02 season. Constantine filled the position of assistant coach and general manager before the New Jersey Devils signed him during the current season for the rest of the season. Despite the successful entry into the playoffs, his contract was not extended.

He then took over the head coach position of the Everett Silvertips , a newly established WHL - franchise , which he led in the first year to the playoff final and he was even named best coach. He trained the Silvertips for four years before he became head coach of the Houston Eros of the American Hockey League (AHL) in the summer of 2007 .

In 2010 he was introduced as the head coach of the Ducs d'Angers from Ligue Magnus . In October 2010, he left the Ducs again and became the new coach of HC Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss National League A .

After being with the HC Ambri-Piotta lay in the seasons 2010/11 and 2011/12 in the league qualification (ascending, descending round) had and in the 2012/13 season a long losing streak, he was selected by Serge Pelletier in the post of Head Coaches replaced. Constantine subsequently took over the post of head scout before signing as head coach with the Everett Silvertips (WHL) in June 2013. On June 19, 2017, Constantine announced his engagement with the South Korean club Daemyung Killer Whales in the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH).

Achievements and Awards

• 1992 Commissioner's Trophy
• 2004 Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy

NHL coaching statistics

	Seasons	Games	S.	N	U	OTL
Regular season	7th	378	159	153	61	5
Playoffs	-	-	-	-	-	-

S = victories; N = defeats; U = tie; OTL = overtime defeat

Web links

• Kevin Constantine at hockeydb.com (English)
• Kevin Constantine at hockeydraftcentral.com