Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Geordie Kinnear he played a hard-nosed, team-first, no-nonsense type of game as a defenseman with the Albany River Rats during the rough and tumble of 1990s hockey.
So it’s only fitting that Kinnear trains in the same self-sacrificing, low-key way he played.
And now, as then, his work is reaping rewards.
With his Charlotte Checkers holding the top percentage in the Atlantic Division since the New Year, he will attend the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Spotlight 29 Casino on February 2-3 in Palm Desert, Calif. First All-Star selection as coach.
Kinnear went to the AHL All-Star Classic as a player in 1996 and 1998 and was selected but was injured two more times during his eight seasons.
Now 51, Kinnear entered the AHL as a 20-year-old from the New Jersey Devils in 1993, a seventh-round pick who had to fight for every minute of ice time in the organization’s highly competitive and growing roster. He won the Calder Cup with the River Rats in his second season and went on to earn the Albany captaincy.
But with Albany producing one future NHL’er after another, having the chance to crack the NHL’s Stanley Cup-winning team’s roster was a no-brainer. After six years in the New Jersey system, Kinnear signed with the expansion Atlanta Thrashers in 1999 and broke out, making his NHL debut in Montreal on March 6, 2000.
He returned to the Devils in a trade in November 2000 before a back injury halted his playing career. Forced to retire aged just 27, Kinnear stepped into the coaching game as an assistant with Albany in 2001-02.
Now in his 23rd season behind the AHL bench, Kinnear has become a fixture in the league. He stayed in Albany after the River Rats began a developmental partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes, and moved to Charlotte when that affiliation moved south in 2010.
In 2016, Kinnear got his head coaching break when the Florida Panthers hired him to lead their new franchise, the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Panthers partnered with Charlotte in 2020, but Kinnear spent the 2020-21 season overseeing their players in Syracuse as the Checkers opted out of the shortened COVID-19 season. He officially returned to the Queen City in 2021, and this year’s club sits at 19-8-1-2 (41 points), two points off the top spot in the Atlantic.
They have performed well even in the midst of serious injuries, winning 12 of their last 16 games. Friday’s 3-2 overtime win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton sent them off for a week before opening a six-game homestand on Jan. 10.
“For me, that’s really where we started – how everyone came in [with] how we want to play,” said Kinnear. “It was a team effort. Everyone has contributed to the team’s success so far.”
Charlotte undoubtedly has a deep reservoir of top talent. The team has far and away the best power in the league at 30.8 percent (including 38.2 percent at home) and can open the offense when needed. They lost 2-0 to the Penguins on Friday before meeting John Leonard‘s overtime winner. But if a team takes its head coach’s approach, the Checkers fit that description. They lead the league in scoring (3.67 goals per game). They have outscored their opponents in 25 of 30 games, allowing a league-low 24.5 shots per contest on the season. Their penalty kill ranks third in the AHL at 87.1 percent, and they have scored a league-best nine goals.
Checkers is a team that has its details down.
And over the years in the business, both on the ice and behind the bench, Kinnear has developed a few things that can be discussed in the way he runs his team and the way his players play.
“You have to respect the process,” he explained. “You want to make sure that every day you win every day, and you teach the right way to play, what winning hockey looks like. He does that whether it’s a win, a bad game, (or) a good lost game. I think you just have to be consistent.”
And the Checkers are there, which is why Kinnear will be going to Acrisure Arena next month.
“I’m proud of the team so far,” Kinnear said. “We have a lot of work left, but I am very honored and humbled to represent the Checkers.”
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
