{"id":696035,"date":"2026-06-10T17:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/696035\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T17:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:34:08","slug":"morning-notes-ott-puustinen-mcilvane-nhlpa-rebrand-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/696035\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Notes: Ott, Puustinen, McIlvane, NHLPA Rebrand \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The St. Louis Blues have signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/staff\/35253\/steve-ott\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Steve Ott<\/a> to a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/blues\/news\/ott-signs-two-year-extension-as-springfield-thunderbirds-head-coach\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">two-year contract extension<\/a>, securing the 43-year-old as the Springfield Thunderbirds head coach through the 2027-28 season and keeping him within the St. Louis Blues organization.<\/p>\n<p>Ott took over as head coach on January 19, 2026, after the Thunderbirds were struggling midseason. In the club\u2019s final 34 regular-season games, he guided the team to an 18-14-2 record, clinching a sixth-seed playoff berth in the Atlantic Division. Ott then led Springfield to the Division Finals, with a first-round series win over the third-seeded Charlotte Checkers and a historic upset victory over the Providence Bruins in the Division Semifinals. The win over Providence marked the single-biggest upset in AHL history, with the teams separated by 38 points in the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for myself, but not only that, I get to stay in an organization that I truly love,\u201d Ott said of the extension. \u201cTo help develop our young guys with the development side of coaching, it\u2019s really exciting for myself. \u2026 When you get asked to take that opportunity, I look at it as a big honor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additional Notes<\/p>\n<p>The NHLPA has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhlpa.com\/news\/nhlpa-restructures-and-rebrands-its-commercial-business-unit-as-the-nhlpa-player-collective-to\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">restructured and rebranded its commercial business unit<\/a> as the NHLPA Player Collective. The move aims to expand global business opportunities and partnerships for NHL players, building on recent staff additions like Chief Commercial Officer Steve Scebelo (formerly of NFL Players Inc.) to enhance player-driven commercial initiatives worldwide.<br \/>\nForward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/puustva01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Valtteri Puustinen<\/a> has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NHL_Rosters\/status\/2064706106803507559?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">signed with Lule\u00e5 HF<\/a> of the SHL. The 27-year-old Finnish winger split time last season between the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins and Colorado Eagles in the AHL after being traded from Pittsburgh to Colorado in January 2026. The 27-year-old recorded 77 goals and 189 points across 276 AHL games, seven goals and 24 points 66 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.<br \/>\nThe Boston Bruins are <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rustymac26\/status\/2064709485646499994?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">said to be hiring<\/a> Matt McIlvane as an assistant coach. The 39-year-old spent the last three seasons as head coach of the San Diego Gulls, Anaheim\u2019s AHL affiliate, where he earned a multi-year extension in April 2026 after previous success coaching in Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Blues have signed Steve Ott to a two-year contract extension, securing the 43-year-old as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[301589,385,1790,99,1610,301590,301591],"class_list":["post-696035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-matt-mcilvane","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-steve-ott","tag-valtteri-puustinen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}