Wilbrod "Willie" Desjardins (born February 11, 1957) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

coach and player. He is currently head coach and general manager of the WHL's

Medicine Hat Tigers The Medicine Hat Tigers are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) who play in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Established in 1970, the team has won two national Memorial Cups, five WHL League Championships and seven Divis ...

. He has also been the head coach of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

from 2014 to 2017 and the interim head coach for the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

for the 2018–19 season. In July 2017, he was named head of the coaching staff for Canada's men's team at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

in Pyeongchang,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Playing career

Desjardins began his hockey career playing in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) for the Moose Jaw Canucks from 1971 to 1974 and split the 1974-75 season between the Moose Jaw Canucks and the Swift Current Broncos (WHL). He played in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) for the

Lethbridge Broncos The Lethbridge Broncos were a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League from 1974 until 1986. They played at the Lethbridge Sportsplex. :Division titles won: 1977–78, 1981–82 :Regular season titles won: 1981–82 : WHL Championship ...

from 1975 through 1977. He followed his junior hockey career by studying at the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

and played with the Saskatchewan Huskies under then head coach Dave King, serving as captain of the 1982-83 University of Saskatchewan Huskies hockey team that won the Canadian university championship, after losing back-to-back national championship finals in previous seasons. King recommended him to Alex Andjelic, head coach of Vissers Nijmegen in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Desjardins spent the 1983/84 season in Nijmegen and won, as captain, the first Dutch championship with the club.

Coaching career

Desjardins began his coaching career at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

in 1985 as assistant coach and became head coach in 1989. He then coached the Seibu Bears in Japan. He then returned to Canada and became head coach of the

Saskatoon Blades The Saskatoon Blades are a major junior ice hockey team playing in the Eastern Division of the Western Hockey League, formerly the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL). They are based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, playing at the 15,195-seat SaskTe ...

, replacing Donn Clark midway through the 1997–98 season. He was then offered a job as an assistant coach for the Canada men's national team. Once hired by the

, Desjardins was instrumental in the Tigers' first playoff appearance in five years in the 2002–03 season, leading them to a

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

appearance and their 4th WHL championship in 2003–04, and a 96-point Eastern Conference regular season champion 2004–05 season. Desjardins took on the duties of general manager for the 2005–06 season. Desjardins was awarded the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy for the Coach of the Year in the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

and the Canadian Hockey League. In 2009, he was the assistant coach of Team Canada's World Junior Gold medal team, under head coach Pat Quinn and alongside fellow assistant coaches

Guy Boucher Guy Boucher (born August 3, 1971) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey coach. Boucher is the former head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was also the head coach of SC Bern in ...

and Dave Cameron. Desjardins was the head coach of Team Canada's

2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships (''2010 WJHC''), was the 34th edition of Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. The tournament was hosted by Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, from December 26, 2009, to January 5, 2010. Saskat ...

team. From 2010 to 2012, Desjardins served as the associate head coach of the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

before being selected as the head coach of their AHL team in

Cedar Park, Texas Cedar Park is a city and a major suburb of Austin in the state of Texas, approximately to the north-west of the center of Austin. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the city's population was 77,595. History Before the arrival of European sett ...

in June 2012. On June 17, 2014, he led his

Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin, with home games at the H-E-B Center. They are owned by the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and are the ...

team to their first

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its cur ...

Championship. On June 23, 2014, Desjardins was hired as the head coach for the

, replacing John Tortorella, who was dismissed as head coach after one season. On April 10, 2017, he was fired after the team missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season, along with assistants

Perry Pearn Perry Pearn (born June 6, 1951) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach. He is a former assistant coach in the National Hockey League, most recently with the Vancouver Canucks. In 2022, he became the head coach of the Japanese national ice ho ...

and

Doug Lidster John Douglas Andrew Lidster (born October 18, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was an assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks until the end of the 2016-2017 season. ...

. Desjardins posted a record of 109–110–27 in three seasons with the club. On July 25, 2017, he was named head coach of Canada's men's team at the

in Pyeongchang,

, with his university head coach Dave King as an assistant. In December 2017, he led Team Canada to gold at the

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...

in Davos. On November 4, 2018, Desjardins was named interim head coach by the

after they fired John Stevens. Desjardins' presence did not lead to the team improving as the Kings went 27–34–8 and finished in last place in the Western Conference. One day after the season ended, the Kings announced that they would not bring Desjardins back for the 2019–20 season. On May 31, 2019, it was announced that Desjardins had been re-hired as head coach and general manager of the

Personal life

Desjardins holds bachelor of education (BEd) and a master of social work (MSW) degrees. He and his wife, Rhonda, have two sons and a daughter. Desjardins is also the owner of a golf course, two RV parks, and a mini golf course. His daughter, Sheehan, studied journalism, has a degree in broadcasting, and works for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, based out of Prince Edward Island. His youngest son has a decorated League Gaming career, winning 3 LG Stanley Cups, the first person in PSN history to achieve such a feat. In addition to his LG success, he led his team to a first place finish in the CBJ Gaming Summer Skate.

Head coaching record

WHL

AHL

NHL

References

External links

Medicine Hat Tigers homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Desjardins, Willie 1957 births Living people Canada men's national ice hockey team coaches Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian ice hockey coaches Dallas Stars coaches Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Lethbridge Broncos players Los Angeles Kings coaches Medicine Hat Tigers coaches Saskatchewan Huskies ice hockey players Saskatoon Blades coaches Vancouver Canucks coaches Ice hockey coaches at the 2018 Winter Olympics