- Blue Jackets named Don Granato an assistant on Rick Bowness’ staff Thursday
- First NHL job for Granato since Buffalo fired him as head coach in 2024
- Read below for what Don Waddell said and Granato’s long history in Columbus
Don Granato is back in the NHL, and he landed somewhere he already knows.
The Blue Jackets named the former Sabres head coach an assistant on Rick Bowness’ staff Thursday and hired Cody Ward as the club’s video coach. It’s Granato’s first NHL job since Buffalo fired him in 2024.
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported the plan on July 1, and Columbus made it official four weeks later.
President of hockey operations and general manager Don Waddell laid out what Granato brings to a roster stocked with young players.
“Don Granato is very smart, hard-working, and has spent a lifetime in this game as a player, head coach, assistant coach and scout, and his experiences will greatly benefit Rick, our staff and most importantly, our players,” Waddell said.
Granato, 58, has been coaching for 29 years. He took the Buffalo job in March 2021 and went 122-125-27 across 274 games over parts of four seasons, a run that included Tage Thompson’s climb into a first-line center.
This is not his first stop in Columbus. He played both of his pro seasons with the ECHL’s Columbus Chill from 1991 to 1993, putting up 90 points in 103 games, then came back to coach the Chill through their final two years in 1997-99.
Most recently he ran the bench for Team USA at the 2026 World Championship.
Bowness, 71, came out of retirement to take over in Columbus partway through last season and later signed a one-year extension. He had plenty to say about the group now around him.
“I’ve known Donny for many years and have great respect for him as a coach, but more importantly as a person,” Bowness said. “I’m really looking forward to working with him, Trent, Jared, Nik, Cody and Cam to help our players be the best they can be individually to help our team reach its goals.”
He joins assistants Jared Boll and Trent Vogelhuber, goaltending coach Niklas Bäckström and video assistant Cam Briere. Ward, 28, spent the last four seasons as San Jose’s assistant video coach.
Columbus hasn’t played a playoff game since 2019-20 and finished six points out last spring. Cole Sillinger said this week the room is done talking about the drought.
