The Penguins have made some additional promotions in their hockey operations department.
It was announced Friday by Ron Hextall that Tom Kostopoulos has been promoted to director of player development, a role previously held by Scott Young, who served in that position for the past five years. Young left the Penguins' organization Friday to become the Canucks' director of player personnel.
Hextall also announced Madison Nikkel has been promoted to video coach.
Kostopoulos, 43, was drafted by the Penguins with the 204th overall selection in the 1999 NHL Draft. He went on to play 1,468 games between the NHL and AHL over 19 seasons. During two separate stints with the team, Kostopoulos served as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' captain. Over the past four seasons, he has worked with the Penguins' prospects in the minors, juniors and college as a player development coach.
“Tom has done an excellent job developing and monitoring players at the minor league and amateur levels over the past four years,” Hextall said. “His work ethic and experience coming up through the ranks during his career serve as a great example for our players. We are excited to have him lead our player development staff.”
Kostopoulos' leadership has made quite an impact on the organization, as he's been credited by many for developing players like Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Matt Murray.
Nikkel, 28, is a graduate of Boston College with a degree in economics and mathematics. He worked as the Penguins' assistant video coach for the past three seasons under Andy Saucier, who was recently promoted to hockey operations analyst/pro personnel. Before working with the NHL club, Nikkel spent three seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins as their video coach. Before that, he worked as a video analyst for Boston College's men's ice hockey team for four seasons.
