CLEVELAND — Trent Vogelhuber still winces when he hears the title attached to his name: Coach Trent Vogelhuber.
“I’m still getting used to it,” Vogelhuber said with a smile. “It makes me feel old.”
Vogelhuber, 30, was the first elite player to emerge from the central Ohio hockey community and the first local to be drafted into the NHL. As such he’s been viewed by the players who have followed him — Chicago’s Connor Murphy, Winnipeg’s Jack Roslovic, Boston’s Sean Kuraly, Anaheim’s Kiefer Sherwood, etc. — as an older brother.
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Now he’s the first of the locals to move on with his post-playing career, joining the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters — the Blue Jackets’ top minor-league affiliate — as an assistant coach in late October.
Vogelhuber coaches Cleveland’s penalty kill, which is 12th in the 31-team AHL. He also works with coach John Madden on the Monsters’ five-on-five play, specifically the play away from the puck, which is usually a challenge to players early in their pro careers.
“Obviously nothing’s as good as playing, but this is the next best thing,” Vogelhuber said. “I’m still a part of a team and I’m around the culture of a dressing room. I’m not out there on the ice, but I’m still competing to win, so I still get that outlet.
“I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would, actually.I take a ton of pride in killing penalties, just like I did when I was a player. I still take it personally when we allow a goal, and I have to learn to let that slide a little bit.”
Blue Jackets assistant general manager Bill Zito said Vogelhuber has made a quick adjustment to the new post. He’s not only picked up the fundamentals of the job quickly, but also the nuances of teaching and motivating players, many of whom are Vogelhuber’s contemporaries.
“I think he can be really good at this,” Zito said. “Like, really good.”
This will surprise exactly nobody … but it’s not what Vogelhuber wanted. Not just yet, anyway.
Still wanting to play
After an injury-riddled two-year run in the Colorado Avalanche organization, Vogelhuber knew a free-agent offer might by hard to come by.
But he was over the moon in early September when he passed a physical and signed a player-tryout agreement with the Blue Jackets to come to training camp. He had been worried that his oft-injured knee wouldn’t pass a physical.
Let’s be honest: It would have taken a miracle for Vogelhuber to make the Blue Jackets’ roster, given all of their committed contracts and their impressive organizational depth.
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But when the likelihood of him playing a significant role with AHL Cleveland came into question — he was on a PTO with Cleveland, too, after getting cut from Blue Jackets camp — it prompted a conversation in late September with Zito, who runs the minor-league operation.
“He was really honest with me, and he said we had a lot of veteran guys and so it was unlikely I’d play a lot,” Vogelhuber said, “so he started asking about what I might want to do after hockey.
“I told him I wasn’t quite sure, but I still wanted to play. Another couple weeks went by and he came at it again.”
Vogelhuber hadn’t played in any games with AHL Cleveland almost one month into the season.He had offers to play in Europe, but a better reason to stay in central Ohio. His wife, Kathleen, had just given birth to the couple’s first child and the family’s first grandchild —Hagan, a boy.
The decision was starting to come into focus. The timing was starting to make too much sense.
AHL Cleveland assistant coach Carey Krug, who was hired by the club over the summer, asked to be relieved of his duties because of a need to be back home with his family near Detroit.
The Monsters obliged, and Zito had one guy in mind for the opening. Vogelhuber took a week to consider — and weigh his options — before accepting.
“We all saw the leadership and the love of hockey,” Zito said. “He’s also a great communicator.
“To me, he got the absolute most out of himself, all the time. And if you played with Vogie, he expected the best out of you, too. I’m expecting he’ll be the same way as a coach.”
Vogelhuber’s career lastedsix pro seasons, highlighted by the Calder Cup win with Cleveland in 2016. It was about that time when many believed the NHL was about to come calling.
He signed with Colorado but played only 15 AHL games in 2016-17 because of injuries. That’s probably the best chance he had for a recall, because the Avalanche — the worst team in the NHL that season — were full of opportunities.
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“I have zero regrets and no excuses,” Vogelhuber said. “I dealt with injuries at inopportune times (four torn ACLs) and I kept battling back, and I’m proud of that. Obviously, you want to play in the NHL, but there was a three-year window where I knew I could play in the NHL.
“I had my game at that level and I never got the opportunity, but that last part is out of my control. I have no regrets at all. I got where I wanted to be, and I’m proud of that.”
Adjusting behind the bench
Madden, the Cleveland coach, is 15 years older than Vogelhuber, who grew up watching Madden and the New Jersey Devils dominate the 2000s and win two Stanley Cups.
The two reached different heights with their careers, but they were cut from a similar cloth stylistically. Both were leaders. Both were dump-and-chasers. Both were hard-nosed fourth-liners who would spear their mothers to win a faceoff or kill a penalty.
“Every person I talked to about him said what a tremendous human being he was, great teammate … ” Madden said. “I got that from all the guys who have played with him. The staff here, the equipment managers … anybody who’s run into him has really positive things to say about him.
“After working with him for (two months) now, he’s awesome to be around. Great guy. Hockey-wise, very intelligent on both sides of the puck.
“We both make fun of each other, saying ‘I would have done it this way on offense …’ but we know we didn’t. (laughs) But defensively we’re on the same page.”
Vogelhuber said he’s quickly getting adapted to working behind a bench and quickly falling in love with it. He has a lot to offer players at one of the most difficult stops in their careers.
The AHL is filled with veteran players who have played in the NHL but have been deemed not good enough to stick. It also has players who have been deemed not good enough to make it to the NHL. They skate beside players who are on their way up, learning the finer points of a fast-moving game.
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Vogelhuber can relate to all of them.
“I’m just trying to get the young guys to grab on and learn how to defend,” Vogelhuber said. “You can’t just score a goal and say you’ve had a good game at this level.
“It’s always difficult early in the season. Everybody has their own agenda. It’s getting guys on the same page and getting them to play for each other. That’s my job now.
“The one thing I always tell them is that on the Cleveland team that won it all, we had a ton of guys playing for each other and not worried about their own numbers. And half the guys on that team got NHL deals the next summer.”
Vogelhuber won’t even guess where this new path might take him. Is this his next career? Does he want to do something other than coach?
The first of the locals to emerge as a player is now the first to emerge has a professional coach, andhe’s back with the Blue Jackets’ organization, which is where it all began for him.
“I remember just coming to those early training camps in Columbus, how much that meant to me,” Vogelhuber said. “(Jared Boll) was a guy I was looking up to, and he just retired this year, too. Derek Dorsett was my first roommate in my first development camp, and he retired last year.
“I know I’m not old, but it’s a young man’s game. I was on the ice this summer with Roslovic and the Sherwoods, and they were just flying around out there. That was my first sign that it might be time for me to go.
“It was great to play in the Blue Jackets’ organization and it’s great to be back in it. That’s my team. I never played for them, but it’s the team I rooted for, the team that drafted me, a team with a lot of my friends on it. It’s definitely an honor to be part of this.”
Notebook
• A few have asked if Cam Atkinson, with 23 goals at Christmas, is on some kind of franchise record pace. Yes, he is. It’s the most goals any Blue Jackets player has scored by Christmas. Rick Nash had 21 goals at Christmas 2003, on his way to a franchise-record 41-goal season that allowed him to share the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. Atkinson is on pace to score 53 goals.
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• The IIHF World Junior Championships get underway today in Vancouver. Great tournament. Blue Jackets have four players in the tournament: forward Kirill Marchenko and goaltender Daniil Tarasov of Russia, defenseman Tim Berni of Switzerland, and forward Emil Bemstrom of Sweden. Last summer’s first-round pick, forward Liam Foudy, did not make Team Canada’s roster. Two former Blue Jackets goaltenders are on coaching staffs: Fred Brathwaite with Canada and Fredrik Norrena with Finland.
• Today is another mandatory off day for the Blue Jackets. They’ll fly to Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday, take a morning skate at Prudential Center — home of the Devils — then bus to their Manhattan hotel room to chill out and rest for Thursday’s return to action against the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden.
(Photo of Trent Vogelhuber in 2016 with the Monsters:Frank Jansky / Getty Images)
Aaron Portzline is a senior writer for The Athletic NHL based in Columbus, Ohio. He has been a sportswriter for more than 30 years, winning national and state awards as a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. In addition, Aaron has been a frequent contributor to the NHL Network and The Hockey News, among other outlets. Follow Aaron on Twitter @Aportzline
