What new head coach Mark Letestu brings to the Colorado Eagles

The Colorado Eagles have hired Mark Letestu as their new head coach. What will he bring to the organization?

It's the beginning of a new era for the Colorado Eagles, an AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. After spending eleven years behind the bench in multiple roles, Aaron Schneekloth left the organization to take an assistant coach position with the Seattle Kraken. After an extensive search, the Avalanche has named Mark Letestu as the next head coach of the Eagles. However, who is Letestu, and what will he bring to the Eagles for the 2025-26 season and beyond?

How Mark Letestu presence will affect the Colorado Avalanche development plans

Letestu had a successful career in the NHL. He spent 11 years in the league playing for the Blue Jackets, Penguins, Oilers, and Jets. Over his 571 games at the NHL level, he recorded 93 goals and 117 assists for 210 points, with 480 hits, 199 blocked shots, and 90 penalty mintues. He also made the playoffs five times during his career, playing in 36 games tallying six goals and nine assists for 15 point.

Since retiring from the league, Letestu has spent a lot of his time as an assistant coach. He spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Monsters. This is amusing because when the Avalanche hired Jared Bednar in 2016, he was both an assistant coach and the head coach of the Monsters. Letestu helped guide the Monsters to success, having a record of 136-117-23-16 and having made the playoffs the last two seasons.

During his time with the Monster, Letestu played a pivotal role in their offensive success. When he was an assistant for Cleveland, they crossed the 200-goal threshold in all four seasons. They've also had a 60-point scorer the past two seasons. This success has also been extended to the power play, where they converted on 17.6 percent of opportunities last season. That was the eleventh-best mark in the league.

An offensive-minded coach is exactly what the Eagles need. Last season, they led the league with 250 goals and had a power-play percentage of 20.1 percent, which was the sixth-best in the league. The Avalanche will also have top forward prospects Oskar Olausson and Nikita Prischepov on the Eagles roster next year. If Letestu can unlock their scoring potential and make them more consistent contributors, they could be in the NHL before we know it.

While we won't know how good Letestu will be until the team hits the ice, he has the making of a good AHL head coach. At the very least, the Eagles should repeat what they did last season under Schneekloth.