The Penguins added two long-time Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fan favorites to their player development staff Wednesday, naming Tom Kostopoulos player development coach and Andy Chiodo goaltending development coach.
Both players joined the Penguins organization in the early 2000s, and have recently wrapped up long hockey careers.
Kostopoulos announce earlier this season that it would be his last in Wilkes-Barre, hanging up his skates after 19 seasons. He played 1,468 combined NHL and AHL regular season and playoff games, and served as the Penguins' AHL captain for the last five years. In that role, he mentored young players like Matt Murray, Jake Guentzel, Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust and Tom Kuhnhackl, who went on to play key NHL roles for the Penguins.
Kostopoulos was drafted by the Penguins in the seventh round of the 1999 NHL Draft, and made his NHL debut in 2001. He stayed with the Penguins until 2004, and went on to play in Los Angeles, Montreal, Carolina, Calgary and New Jersey, before finally ending up back with the Penguins' organization for good in 2013.
Kostopoulos retired this season as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton career leader in games played, goals, assists and points in both the regular seasons and playoffs.
Chiodo played with Kostopoulos as a rookie on the 2003-04 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team that made the Calder Cup final. He saw his only NHL action that seasons, too, playing eight games for the Penguins towards the end of the team's dismal 2003-04 campaign.
Chiodo stayed with the Penguins organization through 2006, before leaving to play in Finland, Russia and Austria, as well as a couple of brief stops back in North America. He spent last season as the goaltending coach for the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League.
First Published: June 20, 2018, 8:40 p.m.