HabsWorld.net --
The Habs added some experience to their coaching staff on Tuesday as they announced the hiring of Craig Ramsay. He is joining the team as a coaching consultant and will not be one of the coaches behind the bench.
Ramsay, who played in over 1,100 games in his NHL career, has been in coaching since 1986-87 in a variety of roles. He served as the head coach of Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, an associate coach with Florida and Tampa Bay, and as an assistant with Buffalo, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Boston, Florida, and Edmonton. He was with the Oilers in the 2014-15 season and was let go in early June.
The hiring comes shortly after the team was linked to Jacques Lemaire for a similar role. The long-time Hab wound up with Toronto instead.
Ramsay has some prior ties to Montreal management. Rick Dudley, the Habs’ Senior VP of Hockey Operations, hired Ramsay as an assistant coach with Tampa Bay in 2001 as well as the head coach with Atlanta in 2010. The two also played together with Buffalo for parts of six seasons in the 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Earlier this week, the Habs made some changes to their scouting department, adding Eric Crawford as a pro scout and Dave Starman as an NCAA scout. Crawford was with Vancouver up until last month while Starman joins the team from the broadcast booth, a role he will continue to hold while working for the organization.