Bob Hartley Named New Coach of ZSC Lions

Bob Hartley's name has come up before in regards to coaching vacancies in European leagues, including earlier this year when HC Lugano of Switzerland's NLA were looking for a new coach.  It appears that the former Stanley Cup winning bench boss, who last worked in the NHL for the Atlanta Thrashers from 2003-07, will indeed come to Switzerland to work, starting next season with the ZSC Lions.  He replaces former Team Sweden boss Bengt-Ake Gustafsson, the man behind the bench for their 2006 Olympic Gold Medal in Turin.  The team lost to its biggest rivals, fellow Zurich area team Kloten Flyers, in five games after finishing 7th in the regular season standings.  This is a team that won the only edition of the Champions Hockey League in 2008-09, as well as the 2009 Victoria Cup over the Chicago Blackhawks, who went on to win the Stanley Cup later that year.

In other ZSC Lions news, the team will be bringing back national team member Severin Blindenbacher for next season.  Blindenbacher failed to catch on this season with the Dallas Stars, after a successful campaign in 2009-10 with Farjestad in Sweden.  He was briefly called up to the team from Texas of the AHL back in November, but never played a game.  He had a tough year, suffering a concussion in the AHL, and only played in 26 games, getting one goal and nine assists.  He had released himself from his contract back in February, and will likely play for Switzerland at the World Championships in Slovakia starting on April 29.