Getty Images Longtime NHL coach and GM Jacques Martin is back behind the bench…though this time, it’s not in North America.
Martin has agreed to join HC Lugano of the National League “A” — the top flight of Swiss hockey — as a coaching consultant, the Lugano website reports.
While details of his appointment are fuzzy (due to the Google translate), it sounds like Martin will join the Lugano staff to help head coach Larry Furas while assistant Patrick Fischer is away coaching Switzerland at the World Junior tournament in Ufa, Russia.
The move to Lugano will reunite Martin with a pair of ex-players: Glen Metropolit, who played for Martin in Montreal and Brett McLean, who played for him in Florida.
Lugano also currently employs two locked-out NHLers — Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and Anaheim’s Luca Sbisa.
Martin, 60, was fired by Montreal 32 games into the 2011-12 season after taking the Habs to consecutive playoff appearances (including the Eastern Conference finals in 2010.)
He’s just one of nine NHL coaches to eclipse the 600 win plateau.
In Lugano, he’ll be joined by Dave Chambers, the former Quebec Nordiques head coach that has worked extensively in the Swiss league with Rappersil, Zurich and Langnau.
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