Photo: Chris Tanouye/Getty Images
The Colorado Avalanche has been hired Jussi Ahokas as the head coach of their American Hockey League team, the Colorado Eagles.
Ahokas, 45, joins the Eagles after three seasons as head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers, a tenure that culminated in a Memorial Cup championship in 2025-26. Ahokas was also named OHL coach of the year for 2024-25.
Ahokas was one of the most decorated coaches in European hockey during his 20 years behind the bench in his native Finland. He coached Finland’s youth teams for 15 seasons, including seven years as the head coach of the national team from U-16 to U-20. Ahokas helped Finland capture gold medals at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship and the 2016 IIHF World U-18 Championship.
Ahokas also spent four seasons in Finland’s top league as head coach of KooKoo (2019–21) and TPS (2021–23), earning the league’s coach of the year award in 2019–20.
