{"id":125390,"date":"2025-08-07T04:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T04:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125390\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T04:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T04:18:11","slug":"derek-king-officially-introduced-as-new-head-coach-of-hershey-bears-i-feel-like-this-is-the-33rd-nhl-team-im-very-excited-and-honored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125390\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek King officially introduced as new head coach of Hershey Bears: \u2018I feel like this is the 33rd NHL team. I\u2019m very excited and honored.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hershey Bears officially introduced Derek King<\/strong> as the 29th head coach in franchise history on Wednesday morning. The Bears held a press conference hosted by Zack Fisch, the play-by-play voice of the club, featuring King and Bryan Helmer, Hershey\u2019s Vice President of Hockey Operations.<\/p>\n

King, 58, has received his second opportunity to be an AHL head coach<\/a> after leading the Rockford IceHogs for parts of four seasons (2018-2022). He was also previously the interim head coach of the NHL\u2019s Chicago Blackhawks during the 2021-22 campaign and stayed with Chicago as an assistant for the past three years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

After parting ways with the Blackhawks earlier this offseason, King found himself searching for a new job and turned to a few familiar faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole process is amazing,\u201d King said Wednesday. \u201cA text message to a player that\u2019s played here, Garrett Mitchell, and a phone call to an old teammate. You don\u2019t have a job, and you start looking, hunting for jobs. It\u2019s not easy out there. There are a lot of good candidates. There are probably a lot of good candidates who were already coaches here. I kept trying and reached out, and here I am. So thanks to Garrett and Helmsy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell, a former fan favorite with the Bears and now an oft-color analyst alongside Fisch, played under King for three years with the IceHogs towards the end of his playing days. Mitchell, a captain for three seasons with the Bears, was also Rockford\u2019s captain for two seasons.<\/p>\n

King knows Helmer well as the two were teammates on the 1999-00 St. Louis Blues. The Blues went 51-19-12 that season, taking home the Presidents\u2019 Trophy as the NHL\u2019s top regular-season team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d like to thank the Washington Capitals, obviously a big part of the interviewing,\u201d King continued. \u201cHershey Entertainment and Resorts, obviously showing their support. And the fans, the crazy fans, right? I haven\u2019t been back here in a while, but I coached here. I remember playing here, and it was a tough place to play back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

King will take over from a Todd Nelson regime that brought two Calder Cups to Hershey in three years. The Bears\u2019 roster will be very different heading into the 2025-26 season as many of the club\u2019s veterans from those Cup-winning teams have moved on this summer, and an influx of Capitals prospects are ready to make their first jump to the pros.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing here for me is I\u2019m an honest guy,\u201d King said. \u201cI\u2019m fair. I have an open-door policy. I expect players to work hard and be humble. We don\u2019t need no big egos around here. I know you guys have won it and that\u2019s great, but now it\u2019s time to win it again. So, for me as a coach, I really believe in that, just working hard and being humble.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a little bit of a younger squad this year. So the big thing is to create good habits as a player. I always believe habits will protect you, and this is what I\u2019m going to strive for: to teach these kids good habits, and hopefully that will help them. All the mistakes I made as a player, I\u2019m going to tell them, don\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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King confirmed he chatted with both Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery and general manager Chris Patrick before getting the job. Both men have a vested interest in seeing Hershey succeed, not only from a Caps perspective but through their extensive past ties to the Bears.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there\u2019s been success here,\u201d King said. \u201cThey\u2019ve built a really great program here. I\u2019m not coming in here to throw elbows and change everything up. I\u2019m here to help keep building it to even get better and hopefully to win it again. I feel this is like the 33rd NHL team, and it\u2019s like an Original Six team. So, to get this job, I\u2019m very excited and honored that they think that I can take the helm and run with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears are set to begin the 2025-26 season with their Home Opener against the Syracuse Crunch on October 11. King will likely meet some of his players this upcoming fall as the Capitals hold their typical rookie camp leading into training camp. The Bears will also have their own training camp and preseason later in the fall.<\/p>\n

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