Fresh off Stanley Cup win with Lightning, Halifax's Plandowski gets new job

Halifax's Darryl Plandowski didn't have long to celebrate after the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Dallas Stars for the Stanley Cup earlier this week.

A scout for the Lightning for 12 years, he joined the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday as director of amateur scouting.

"The week was a little stressful but it's pretty exciting to finally win the Cup and now I've decided to take a big step and start over again," he said.

Plandowski spent his last year with the Lightning as assistant director of amateur scouting. He has also worked as a scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.

"Sometimes you're gone probably 25 days a month flying and driving all over the place," said Plandowski. "But I've been lucky the last few years because there have been players here we've been watching with teams in the Maritimes."

The Lightning have been among the top teams in the NHL for several seasons, a testament to good work from their scouts.

While Plandowski looks forward to the day he receives his Stanley Cup ring, he's hoping to soon start laying the groundwork to build the Coyotes into contenders. He looks forward to working with Arizona generalmanager Bill Armstrong, someone he's known for years.

"A team can kind of be stuck in the mud and then the right player comes along and you can take off," said Plandowski. "You just don't want to be one of those organizations that is stuck for long."

Plandowski and his wife, Jill, a power skating coach, have three sons who are all hockey players.

Marshall played part of last season with the East Hants Penguins junior B team, Oscar is a second-year defenceman with the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and their youngest son, Jack, is attending the selects program at Bishop Kearney School near Rochester, N.Y.

Darryl Plandowski grew up in Lloydminster, Alta., and played U.S. college hockey at Northern Michigan University.