Hungary's head coach Kevin Constantine watches the group A match between Hungary and Sweden at the ice hockey world championship in Tampere, Finland, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Former San Jose Sharks coach Kevin Constantine was fired as coach of the Wenatchee Wild this week shortly he was suspended indefinitely by the Western Hockey League for making “derogatory comments of a discriminatory nature.”
Constantine, 64, was let go by the Wild on Thursday, just one day after he received the suspension from the WHL.
In its first season in Washington state after moving from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the major junior team said associate head coach Chris Clark and assistant coach Andrew Sarauer would continue to direct the club while it searches for a new permanent head coach.
Constantine was suspended on Sept. 24 pending an independent investigation that found he violated the WHL’s standard of conduct policies. The league said he will not be eligible to apply to the commissioner for reinstatement until 2025 at the earliest.
“The WHL holds our players and staff to a very high standard of conduct at all times,” WHL Commissioner Ron Robison said in a statement on Wednesday. “We have extensive programming which emphasizes the importance of always treating players and staff in a respectful manner and there is a zero tolerance for any comments of a derogatory nature.
“Those in leadership capacities in the WHL, in particular our Head Coaches, are expected to set examples for our players and not conduct themselves in a manner that would impact adversely on the team environment or inflict damage on the reputation of the League.”
Constantine coached the Sharks from the start of the 1993-1994 season to Dec. 2, 1995, when he was fired by then-general manager Dean Lombardi after a 3-18-4 start.
Constantine was behind the bench for two of the team’s biggest-ever playoff series wins, as the Sharks pulled off first-round upsets of the Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames in the 1994 and 1995 postseasons, respectively.
Constantine had a record of 55-78-24 with the Sharks. He went on to coach both the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils and had a record of 161-150-51-5 over seven NHL seasons. Constantine coached in Austria last season, directing Szekeshfehervar Alba Volan.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Originally published at Staff and wire reports