Blackhawks hire former Stanley Cup-winning coach Marc Crawford as assistant

When Marc Crawford was guiding the Avalanche to the 1996 Stanley Cup, Jeremy Colliton was an 11-year-old working on his family farm in south Alberta.

When Colliton broke into the NHL as a rookie in 2005-06, Crawford was already in his 11th year as a head coach, having already taken his teams to the playoffs in nine of his first 10 seasons.

Now, Colliton is the youngest coach in the league, and Crawford will be by his side starting this fall. The Blackhawks hired the 58-year-old Crawford, who most recently spent three seasons on the Senators’ staff, as an assistant coach Tuesday.

The Ontario native brings a much-needed dose of experience to Colliton’s staff, which otherwise consists of two 38-year-olds in Sheldon Brookbank and Tomas Mitell, the latter of whom was hired straight out of Sweden two weeks ago.

“Knowing the league is important, and it’s not just knowing the personnel on the other side,” Crawford said. “It’s also understanding the idiosyncrasies of every other building, having a little bit more knowledge about how other staffs are and how they implement their strategies . . . [and] recognizing the officials, recognizing league officials, and how the league works. I should be able to help them in that regard.”

Crawford began his coaching career with the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, then followed the franchise to Colorado, where he led the Avalanche to 104 points and a Stanley Cup title in his second season.

He made later stops in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Dallas, although his 18-game stint as the Senators’ interim coach in March and April marked his first moments as a head coach since 2011. Crawford said he was disappointed to not get the Senators’ permanent job — but considering the on-ice struggles and off-ice dysfunction that has plagued Ottawa in recent years, he sounded equally excited for the move to Chicago.

“Chicago is a team that goes the extra mile to find a way to get things done,” Crawford said. “No disrespect to any of the other places I’ve been, but it’s really nice when you have that organization.”

Crawford is a longtime friend of Joel Quenneville, and his son, Dylan, currently serves on the Hawks’ video staff.

He saved his highest praise for Colliton, however, calling him a “very innovative” young coach.

“If I was the head coach, I would do things almost exactly the way he’s doing them, from the standpoint of systems,” he said.