Todd Nelson named AHL Coach of the Year after leading Hershey Bears to best regular season in franchise history

The Nelson-led Bears wrapped up their 2023-24 regular season on Saturday, finishing with a 53-14-5 record. The team’s .771 points percentage was the best in the franchise’s 86-year history and the second-best in league history. The award is voted on by fellow coaches and media members in each of the league’s 32 cities. Nelson is the sixth Bears coach to take home the honor and the first since current Washington Capitals bench boss Spencer Carbery did so after the 2020-21 campaign.

Other winners of the prestigious award include former Capitals coaches Barry Trotz, Peter Laviolette, and Scott Arniel (assistant). Current Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love is a two-time recipient of the trophy.

“Coach of the Year in the @TheAHL goes to the @TheHersheyBears Head Coach Todd Nelson,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis tweeted. “Most deserved after a record breaking year in Hershey for the @Capitals AHL affiliate.”

Nelson was hired as Bears head coach last season and went on to lead them to the franchise’s 12th Calder Cup championship. Many of the players he coached on that team helped Carbery and the Capitals successfully qualify for the NHL playoffs this season.

This season he was also named head coach of the Atlantic Division at the AHL All-Star Classic. The all-star coaching nod was Nelson’s fourth in his career, a new league record. The 54-year-old former Capitals defender has collected 406 career AHL wins which ranks seventh in the league’s history, one win behind Scott Gordon for sixth. Last year, he became just the 12th head coach in AHL history to win multiple Calder Cups and only the third to win Cups with different teams. He won his first with Grand Rapids in 2017.

Nelson is only the third person in AHL history to win the Calder Cup as a player (Portland, 1994), assistant coach (Chicago, 2008), and head coach (2017, 2023).

The Saskatoon native also has seven years of experience as a coach in the NHL with 46 games coming as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. Nelson has expressed his desire in the past to return to the NHL as a bench boss and could receive serious consideration from teams with openings this offseason.