Rob Zettler
Rob Zettler ( born March 8, 1968 in Sept- Îles, Quebec ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and current coach. During his career he played for the Minnesota North Stars, San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League on the position of the defender. He is currently the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.
Career
Zettler started with ice hockey at the age of four years in his hometown. This was followed from 1984 to 1988 a successful junior time at the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League. During his time in the OHL, the Canadian was with the Greyhounds once the J. Ross Robertson Cup win and reach the final tournament at the Memorial Cup. Finally, he was selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 1986 in the third round to 55th position of the Minnesota North Stars.
Already in the 1987/88 season Zettler played his first games for the former farm team of the North Stars, the Kalamazoo Wings in the International Hockey League ( IHL ). In the 1988/89 season the defender then ran the first time in the NHL for Minnesota, but played up to and including season 1990/91 and again in Kalamazoo for the farm team. Due to the NHL Dispersal Draft 1991, had Zettler switch to the San Jose Sharks. In the following three seasons to Zettler became a fixture in the defensive organization of the team newly created, but was released during the 1993/94 season in exchange for Wjatschelsaw Buzajew to the Philadelphia Flyers. There Zettler played until the end of season 1995 /96 apply. It was followed by the transfer to the Toronto Maple Leafs in his Canadian homeland, where he played until 1998. Then it chose the Nashville Predators in the NHL Expansion Draft in 1998. After just one season there, he signed as a free agent contract with the Washington Capitals, where he played under head coach Ron Wilson. After Zettler had been missing in the 1999/00 season long due to a head injury, he could not build on his previous performances and played in the following game often years in the American Hockey League with the Portland Pirates, the farm team of the capital. Besides his work as a player, he worked there as a supporter of the talents of the team, to prepare them for an NHL career.
After the end of the 2001/02 season Zettler ended on 27 August 2002 his career. On 6 December 2002 he was appointed by the new head coach of the San Jose Sharks Ron Wilson as assistant coach of the team. He worked there until 2008 mainly related to the defenders of the team, before Ron Wilson was fired at season's end. After Wilson had little later assumed the head coaching job of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Zettler was initially remained in the organization of the Sharks, the Maple Leafs pledged him in July 2008. This position had the Canadians held four seasons, before the summer of 2012 from the Syracuse Crunch was engaged in the same function. After Jon Cooper took over the NHL team the Tampa Bay Lightning in March 2013, Zettler was promoted to the Syracuse Crunch head coach.
Together with Tim Hunter, another assistant coach of Toronto, he received a certificate from the Positive Coaching Alliance, an organization that cares about sports as a character-building measure as the first professional sports coaches. In addition, Zettler founded the Zettler Pro Hockey Camps, a week-long hockey practice for eight to eleven year old children in South Lake Tahoe.
Awards and achievements
Career Stats
As a player
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )