- Ryan Getzlaf is coaching Canada’s centers and running faceoff work at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor
- Four years into retirement, the Ducks legend says the management side never felt like the locker room
- Read below for Getzlaf’s full comments and what head coach Misha Donskov says he brings to the staff
Ryan Getzlaf still hasn’t gotten the hang of being retired.
Four years after his last shift with the Anaheim Ducks, the 41-year-old is back on the ice in a Hockey Canada jacket. He’s an assistant coach for Canada at the 2027 IIHF World Junior Championship, and his week at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, Ontario has been spent with the centers, teaching faceoffs.
The past few years, he worked the management side with Hockey Canada. He told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman that the view from up there never landed the same way.
“Being around the locker room again, and being around a group of guys that are all working toward something … I did the management thing for a little while. When you get up above, it’s not quite the same feeling as sitting in that locker room.”
Hockey Canada filled out Misha Donskov’s staff on July 20, putting Getzlaf alongside Drew Bannister, Jim Hulton and Brad Lauer as assistants:
That management stint is what opened the door. Getzlaf helped pick Canada’s rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the 2025 World Championship and the Milano Cortina Olympics, and he and Donskov got close along the way.
Donskov was asked what Getzlaf gives a young group.
“He really was excited about this opportunity to coach and work 1-on-1 with the players, specifically with the forwards and the centericemen. He just provides so much leadership experience. He’s won everything in the game.”
Nobody is overselling him there. Getzlaf is the only player in Ducks history with 1,000 points (1,019) and 1,000 games (1,157). He won the Stanley Cup in 2007, wore the C for his final 12 seasons, and owns gold from the 2005 World Juniors, the 2016 World Cup and the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.
His actual job this week is small-detail stuff. Getzlaf is studying video on every center in camp and cataloguing what each one does well.
“Each guy’s going to need something a little bit different. Some guys are stronger in one thing than others.”
Players in camp are soaking it up. Blues prospect Tynan Lawrence, who scored in Canada’s 5-3 loss to Sweden on Wednesday, said Getzlaf has drilled the fundamentals down to scouting the officials.
“I think it’s more just harping on little details, the fundamentals of timing, get to know who you’re playing against. Get to know the ref. Every ref’s different. Some guys just go straight down.”
Canada bounced back and beat Finland on Thursday night at the WFCU Centre:
Getzlaf hasn’t decided whether coaching becomes a bigger part of his life. He does know what he signed up for with the 2027 World Juniors running Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
“I grew up in an organization in Canada that it’s a gold medal or bust, so we’re here to work towards that, and that doesn’t happen just by saying it.”
