Avalanche hires Mark Letestu as new Colorado Eagles coach

One of the Colorado Avalanche s pivotal coaching vacancies has been filled The Avs hired Mark Letestu as the head coach of the Colorado Eagles the club broadcasted Saturday Letestu has spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Monsters the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets Letestu played NHL games across seasons with five teams including two stints with the Blue Jackets He was an undrafted free agent who spent a year at Western Michigan and then signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins For the past three seasons Letestu has been an assistant coach for Trent Vogelhuber who played for Jared Bednar in - when the then-Lake Erie Monsters won the Calder Cup as AHL champions There are several other connections between the two franchises stemming from Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland s -year run in the Blue Jackets front office before arriving in Colorado Letestu will be reunited with Avs prospect Gavin Brindley who was part of the return when Colorado traded Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the Blue Jackets last month The Avs still have a vacancy on Bednar s staff after longtime assistant Ray Bennett was fired following the club s first-round playoff loss to the Dallas Stars Letestu is replacing Aaron Schneekloth who was the Eagles head coach the past two seasons before taking an NHL assistant job with the Seattle Kraken Related Articles Avalanche Journal Sizing up the top of the NHL after a sleepy start to free agency Renck Greatest season for Colorado pro sports is staring us in face save for Rockies of program New Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns has one big goal still after remarkable career win the Stanley Cup Avalanche sign likely Hall of Fame defenseman Brent Burns to one-year contract Avalanche prospects Jake Fisher Tory Pitner have two traditions in mind a DU national championship and joining the Pios-to-Avs pipeline Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis