A long-time NHL winger is getting his first professional head coaching opportunity.  On Thursday, the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, affiliate of the Maple Leafs, announced that Steve Sullivan has been named as their new head coach.  He takes the place of John Gruden, who was promoted to an assistant role with the Maple Leafs earlier this week.

Sullivan was a veteran of over 1,000 NHL games as a player and got his off-ice career started with the Coyotes, one of the teams he played for.  He started as a development coach but eventually moved into the front office, at one point working alongside GM John Chayka before briefly replacing him upon Chayka’s departure from the organization.

Sullivan decided to get back into coaching, joining Toronto’s organization two years ago as an assistant with the Marlies.  He started in that role last season before being added to Craig Berube’s staff in the same role in late December.  Now, he’ll get a chance to run the bench of the defending Calder Cup champions.

Meanwhile, the team also announced that long-time NHL blueliner (himself a veteran of over 1,000 NHL games as well) Mark Giordano has been added as a full-time assistant coach.  He started last season as a development coach with the organization but was moved onto the Marlies staff to fill Sullivan’s spot on an interim basis in December.  It’s clearly a role that both sides were comfortable with him continuing as he’ll now get set for his first full season of coaching.