The Majors announced Tuesday that Jim Hulton, assistant general manager and co-coach of the Ontario Hockey League team, has decided to pursue an opportunity to be an assistant coach with the NHL Florida Panthers.
"I am extremely excited about my new role," Hulton said Tuesday in a statement released by the Majors. "But at the same time, (I'm) disappointed to be leaving a great organization.
"I enjoyed my time here with the St. Mike’s Majors, and am very grateful to have worked under general manager and head coach, Dave Cameron. The team holds a wonderful tradition, and will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years."
Hulton will join another former OHL coach behind the Florida bench. Peter DeBoer, who took the Kitchener Rangers to the OHL championship and lost in the Memorial Cup final to Spokane in May, was hired as head coach of the Panthers last month.
Hulton, a Kingston native, is a former player with the Rangers.
He began his coaching career 14 years ago when he landed an assistant coaching position with his hometown team, the Voyageurs of the Provincial Junior A League.
Since then, he has coached with the St. Mike's Buzzers of the OPJHL and has had stints with North Bay, the former Mississauga IceDogs, Belleville and Kingston in the OHL.
He coached at Royal Military College for one season before joining the Majors last summer as the co-coach.
Hulton has also had success at the international level. He guided Canada's Under-18 National team to a gold medal in the 2002 Eight Nations Cup and he was behind the bench twice as an assistant with the Canadian Junior World Hockey team. He was with the junior team that won a gold medal in North Dakota in 2005.
onlinenews@mississauga.net
