Darryl Sutter made his first move Tuesday since becoming the Blackhawks`
head coach when he hired Paul Baxter as one of his assistants.
Baxter, 36, is a former defenseman best known for his fighting ability. His eight-year National Hockey League career, which ended in 1986-87 at Calgary, featured 48 goals and 1,564 penalty minutes in 472 games. He stayed with the Flames as an assistant coach and a minor-league coach until leaving this spring.
”When I tried to answer the questions about the perfect guy I wanted, I kept coming back to him,” said Sutter. ”I was looking for a former player, preferably a defenseman, with coaching experience; someone who knew our conference; and someone with the desire, commitment and work ethic to be a coach.”
Baxter came into the NHL from the World Hockey Association with the Quebec franchise in 1979-80. He began coaching as a Calgary assistant, spent two years as head coach of the Salt Lake City farm team in the International League, then went back to working as a Flames assistant.
When Calgary GM Doug Risebrough hired Dave King as coach, Baxter decided the time had come to move on. ”I wanted more responsibility, more of a growing situation than Doug had to offer,” explained Baxter.
Baxter became acquainted with the Hawks` coach through Sutter`s younger brother, Rich: ”I was a player at Pittsburgh when we drafted Rich. Through him, I got to know the rest of the family. I got to know Darryl better the year I coached against him in the minors.”
In Baxter`s first season in Salt Lake City, the team won the Turner Cup, emblematic of the IHL title. The next year, when Sutter had the Hawks` Saginaw farm, Baxter`s team had a franchise-record 116 points in the regular season but lost to Muskegon in the Turner Cup finals.
Baxter said he first became interested in coaching when he played in Pittsburgh under Eddie Johnston, who was fired by the Hawks in a controversial move after his successful 1979-80 rookie season as their coach.
”I thought E.J. was an outstanding coach, and he had a lot of influence on me during the three years I played for him,” said Baxter.
