Geordie S. Kinnear (born July 9, 1973) is a Canadian former 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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

and current head coach of the

Charlotte Checkers The Charlotte Checkers are a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the top minor league affi ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL). He played 4 games in 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 ...

(NHL) with the Atlanta Thrashers in the 1999–00 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1993 to 2001, was mainly spent in the minor

. After retiring he turned to coaching, and was named head coach of the

Springfield Thunderbirds The Springfield Thunderbirds are a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League that began play for the 2016–17 season. They are the affiliate of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues. Based in Springfield, M ...

in 2016.

Playing career

After playing three seasons of junior hockey for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League, Kinnear was drafted in the seventh round, 162nd overall, by the New Jersey Devils in the

1992 NHL Entry Draft The 1992 NHL Entry Draft was the 30th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 20 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. A total of 264 players were drafted. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Sergei Gonchar, who ret ...

. One of the team's original players, he skated with River Rats for the first six years of his eight-year professional career (1993–94 to 1998–99), helping them reach the playoffs every year. Over that time, he was a member of the River Rats' 1995 Calder Cup championship team, was selected to four consecutive AHL All-Star Classics (1995–1999) and served as Albany's captain for three seasons (1996–1999). In August 1999, Kinnear made his

debut after he signed with the Atlanta Thrashers as a free agent. He appeared in four games with Thrashers and played for the other part of the 1999-2000 season with Atlanta's IHL affiliate, the Orlando Solar Bears. After starting the 2000-01 season with Orlando, he was traded back to New Jersey on Nov. 6, 2000, and played 14 games with the Albany River Rats before being forced to retire due to injury in December 2000. He retired as the all-time leader in games played and penalty minutes for the River Rats and was one of the first inductees into the Albany River Rats Hall of Fame. He was honoured during a game versus Providence with a special "Geordie Kinnear Night" when his #4 sweater was retired and hoisted to the rafters.

Coaching career

After an eight-year professional career, Kinnear began his coaching career when he joined the Albany River Rats coaching staff in August 2001. He worked for the New Jersey Devils' minor-league affiliate from 2001–2006, serving as Albany's assistant coach for four seasons and working as a special assignment scout with the New Jersey Devils during the 2004-05 season. He spent the 2006-07 season serving as a part-time assistant and special consultant for Albany during their first year as the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

top minor-league affiliate. During the Charlotte Checkers' 2015-2016 campaign, he spent his eighth full season working for the Carolina Hurricanes organization and his thirteenth season as an assistant coach in the

(AHL). Kinnear was hired by the Florida Panthers as head coach of their AHL affiliate, the

, for the 2016–17 season. This was Kinnear's first head coaching position. After four seasons as coach with the Thunderbirds, Kinnear returned to the

as head coach following an affiliation change with the Panthers for the 2020–21 season.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnear, Geordie 1973 births Living people Albany River Rats players Atlanta Thrashers players Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Ontario New Jersey Devils draft picks Orlando Solar Bears (IHL) players Peterborough Petes (ice hockey) players Sportspeople from Norfolk County, Ontario Springfield Thunderbirds coaches