Lightning fire two coaches

Posted Jul 23, 2010 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Jul 23, 2010 at 10:16 AM

The Lightning did some house cleaning on Friday, letting go of two coaches, Jim Johnson and Cap Raeder.

Johnson, who ran the team’s development camp last week, served as assistant coach of the Norfolk Admirals at the start of last season before taking over as head coach in January. After leading the Admirals turnaround to a 15-5-1-1 record under his guidance, Johnson was at the center of a controversial move by then general manager Brian Lawton, who promoted Johnson to the Lightning coaching staff and fired Wes Walz without the consent or knowledge of head coach Rick Tocchet. Johnson finished out the season with the Lightning but did not help out on the ice with the rest of the coaching staff before heading back to guide Norfolk to finish the season behind the Admirals’ bench.

The search for a new head coach for the Admirals will begin immediately with new Norfolk general manager Julie BriseBois and Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman leading the search.

Raeder, who also took part in the development camp last week, has served the previous two seasons with the team as the goaltending coach working with the goaltenders both with the Lightning goaltenders as well as the team’s prospects in Norfolk. A long time scout with the San Jose Sharks, Raeder joined the Lightning when Barry Melrose was named as head coach after the two were together in Los Angeles when Melrose was head coach of the Kings.

Tampa Bay head coach Guy Boucher said earlier this week that he would utilize a goaltending coach, a search that will now begin to fill Rader’s role.

The team is also expected to announce the third member of head coach Guy Boucher’s later on Friday. Boucher, who left for a family vacation on Thursday, hired his assistants from Hamilton of the American Hockey League, Daniel Lacroix and Martin Raymond, earlier this week. Boucher said the the third member of the staff, who is expected to be a veteran with NHL coaching experience of some capacity, will be primarily in charge of running the penalty kill and split time on the bench during games with Raymond while also splitting time with Raymond as the eye-in-the-sky communicating with the bench from above.

Here is the official release and statement from the team:

The Tampa Bay Lightning have elected not to retain Norfolk Admirals head coach Jim Johnson or organizational goaltending coach Cap Raeder, Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced today. Yzerman and Assistant General Manager Julien BriseBois will begin the search process to replace both coaches right away.

Additionally, the organization has granted permission to Lightning associate coach Rick Wilson to seek employment with other teams, although he continues to remain under contract with the Lightning.