Don Granato (born August 11, 1967) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Playing career

After two years playing with the then named Madison Capitals of the United States Hockey League (USHL), Granato was recruited to play for the University of Wisconsin and played there for four years, winning a national title in the 1989–90 season. During his last year with the team in 1990–91, he served as team's captain. After college he played for two years with the Columbus Chill of the ECHL before retiring as player in order to move into coaching.

Coaching career

Granato served as head coach of the

Green Bay Gamblers The Green Bay Gamblers are a Junior ice hockey#Tier I, Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). They play in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, at the Resch Center. History Professional hockey in Gre ...

and

Wisconsin Capitols Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake ...

of the United States Hockey League (USHL) from 1993 to 1997, where he led the Gamblers to the league finals. He was then hired by the Columbus Chill of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) in 1997 and then

Peoria Rivermen Peoria Rivermen is the name of four minor league hockey clubs: *Peoria Rivermen (IHL), named as such 1984–1996, formerly the Peoria Prancers 1982–1984 *Peoria Rivermen (ECHL), 1996–2005 *Peoria Rivermen (AHL), 2005–2013 *Peoria Rivermen (SP ...

in 1999. He won the

Kelly Cup The Patrick J. Kelly Cup goes to the playoff champion of the ECHL. The Kelly Cup has been awarded to teams since 1997. Prior to 1997, the playoff winner was awarded the Riley Cup, named after former American Hockey League president Jack Riley. Th ...

as a coach in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

with the Peoria Rivermen and was then promoted to head coach of the Worcester IceCats of the American Hockey League (AHL). During the

2000–01 AHL season The 2000–01 AHL season was the 65th season of the American Hockey League. The league realigned its divisions again. The Atlantic division was renamed as the Canadian division. The Empire State division was replaced by the South division, with m ...

, Granato won the

Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award The Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award is an American Hockey League (AHL) trophy awarded annually to the most outstanding coach during the season, as voted upon by members of the AHL media. The award is named for Louis Pieri, a long-time contributor ...

as the most outstanding coach of the AHL. After five seasons with the IceCats, he was promoted to an assistant coach with their National Hockey League (NHL) affiliate, the St. Louis Blues. In 2008, he became head coach of the Chicago Wolves of the AHL but was released in 2009 after seven games. From 2013 to 2016, he was head coach of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. In March 2016, Granato assumed an assistant coaching position under his brother, Tony, with the Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey team. On June 15, 2017, he became an assistant coach, along with Ulf Samuelsson, under Joel Quenneville of the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. In 2019, he was hired as an assistant coach of the Buffalo Sabres. On March 17, 2021, Granato became the interim head coach of the Buffalo Sabres, replacing the fired

Ralph Krueger Ralph Krueger (born 31 August 1959) is a Canadian-born German professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the former head coach of the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL), and former chairman of South ...

. Granato posted a 9–16–3 record in 28 games with the Sabres to finish off the 2020–21 season head coach. The interim tag was removed on 2021 June 29 for the 2021–22 season Sabres head coach.

Head coaching record

NHL

Personal life

Granato is the brother of Cammi and Tony, and the brother-in-law of Ray Ferraro.

References

External links

*
Coaching profile
at Eliteprospects.com
Don Granato new head coach for Wolves
1967 births Living people American men's ice hockey centers American ice hockey coaches American people of Italian descent Buffalo Sabres coaches Chicago Wolves coaches Chicago Blackhawks coaches Columbus Chill players Ice hockey coaches from Illinois Ice hockey players from Illinois Madison Capitols players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions People from Downers Grove, Illinois St. Louis Blues coaches Vancouver Canucks scouts Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey players {{US-icehockey-center-stub