Nick Bonino is a former Penguins center who helped to create one of the more iconic lines in team history with Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel. That H-B-K line scored a few clutch goals en route to the 2016 Stanley Cup victory, and Bonino went from dismissed trade acquisition to Penguins legend.
His career has taken a few turns since those Cup parades, including through Nashville for several years and the New York Rangers. New Penguins head coach Dan Muse was an assistant under Peter Laviolette in Nashville while Bonino was there and then again in New York.
And that is how Bonino became the Penguins’ new assistant coach.
“Dan (called). I played from Nashville and then again in New York, and I’ve always been around, not around the coach’s office, but I love the hockey … hockey IQ has always been something that I’ve relied on, and I love talking strategy and ideas,” Bonino said. “Muse and I would always talk, and a few times he said to me, ‘You know, if I get a coaching job, I’m gonna give you a call.’
“To his credit, he meant it and gave me a call that first day. When he called, actually as I was saying hi to him, I was bringing up the Penguins’ Instagram because I was like, ‘I wonder if he got this job?'”
Bonino was wrapping up his season with Ljubljana Olimpija HK in the Austrian league, though the team is based in Slovenia. In fact, at mid-season, Bonino began to get a taste of coaching after a coaching change. The new coach was a rookie who leaned on Bonino.
Over the course of his career, he played 868 NHL games and scored 159 goals.
Bonino was long known as a heady player. Or, as he comically phrased it, “I didn’t stay in the league as long as I did because of how fast I was.”
Now, it’s Bonino who is the rookie again. He confirmed he will be on the bench this season, directing the centers and assisting coach Mike Stothers with the penalty kill. Bonino will also be on the headset to assistant coach Rich Clune, who will be upstairs.
“I think one of the things Dan stressed is just how much of a committee we’re going to be this year. Even just from the first couple of meetings, it’s ideas bouncing around,” Bonino reported. “There’s an emphasis on everyone working together. And I think that’s a real strength of our staff. We all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences with playing and coaching. And I think that’s invaluable.”
Development Camp Notes
The boys are still completing mostly skating drills. Fans and media were unable to witness the speed tests because sensors around the rink could pick up external movements and skew the results. Otherwise, development coaches directed the prospects on technique and conducted drills that might look more like a youth summer camp.
So, no, there should be no analysis or extrapolations through two days. There have been a few lower-intensity one-on-one drills, but not enough to judge. All that can be gleaned so far is that Bill Zonnon is a gregarious kid with a big personality. Will Horcoff has the same extroverted disposition, but the 11th overall pick, Ben Kindel, is more serious and soft-spoken, at least in the locker room.
Every year, there are awkward situations in the locker room–we have five days and no unlimited time or space to write about each player. If you look closely at some of the videos, you can see some of the players watching, sometimes wistfully. There is always a sense that both makes me sad and makes me chuckle as some of the guys look at us media, wondering, “Do you want to talk to me?”
In past years, some of the invitees had a chance to make it to training camp or at least the rookie tournament in Buffalo. However, with 13 draft picks last weekend and more in-house prospects with a legitimate chance at the NHL than the Penguins have had in 30 years, those spots are almost exclusively filled.
We did get one tidbit from prospect Brent Johnson–he is actually named after former Penguins goalie Brent Johnson. While Johnson’s mother was pregnant, his parents went to a St. Louis Blues game. They liked the name, and it stuck.
Johnson completed his sophomore season at Ohio State and played one game for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and three games for the Wheeling Nailers.
And yes, this Brent Johnson was well aware of the Penguins goalie’s most famous moment when he essentially ended former Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro’s career in a goalie fight.
