Mellanby, 45, is a veteran of 1,431 NHL games, split between the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, and Atlanta Thrashers. A Montreal native, he was a teammate of Marc Bergevin's for two seasons while in St. Louis. Also of note is that for his final two seasons during which he captained the Thrashers, he was coached by Hab head coaching candidate Bob Hartley. After retiring following the 2006-07 season, Mellanby first joined the Vancouver Canucks as a scout and special advisor to General Manager Mike Gillis. He moved to St. Louis as an Assistant Coach for the last two years, prior to stepping down days ago, claiming that hockey operations were more of a passion than coaching for him.
This is the latest in a series of moves as Bergevin - as he puts it - surrounds himself with good hockey people, of which you can never have enough. His group now includes two Assistant General Managers - Rick Dudley and Larry Carriere - a Director of Amateur Scouting and Player Development in Trevor Timmins, and Mellanby. We don't know the exact division of labour yet, with speculation that Timmins may focus on scouting, leaving development tasks to Dudley and Mellanby. In any case, it's hard not to be excited about the team Bergevin is building, with lots of experience and well-respected throughout the hockey world.
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