The Vancouver Canucks have hired a Canadian World Juniors hero to be their next AHL goalie coach.
Justin Pogge, who helped Team Canada win a gold medal at the 2006 WJC, will join the Abbotsford Canucks after the organization experienced quite a shakeup with their goaltending coaches.
Last week, it was announced that Ian Clarke was stepping aside from his role as the Canucks’ goalie coach and director of goaltending. The team’s previous AHL goalie coach, Marko Torenius, was subsequently hired to replace him at the NHL level.
This left a spot to be filled in the AHL, one that Pogge will now step into.
“He brings a plethora of experience as a player at the NHL, AHL, international, and European professional levels, and I’m looking forward to seeing him help develop our goaltenders in Abbotsford,” said Ryan Johnson, the GM of Abbotsford.
Abbotsford Canucks General Manager, Ryan Johnson, announced today the hiring of Justin Pogge as goaltending coach of the club.
FULL DETAILS | https://t.co/M1cjI8c111 pic.twitter.com/O09XtYwSDM
— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) August 26, 2024
Pogge spent last season with the Columbus Blue Jackets organization as a goaltending consultant and helped out Team Canada as a goalie coach at both the World Championship and the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The 38-year-old Pogge was once regarded as one of the brightest goaltending prospects in the entire league in the years after he was drafted 90th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2004.
As mentioned, he won a gold medal with Canada at the 2006 WJC, where he posted a 6-0-0 record with three shutouts and a .952 save percentage. Unfortunately, Pogge was not able to translate that into a successful NHL career, appearing in just seven games with the Maple Leafs in 2008-09, in which he won just one game.
He has spent the bulk of his career playing overseas, with his most recent season coming in the German DEL in 2022-23 as a member of Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams.