St. Louis Blues hire Vaclav Prospal, Greg Cronin as assistant coaches

 

The St. Louis Blues have hired Vaclav "Vinny" Prospal and Greg Cronin as assistant coaches for Jim Montgomery's coaching staff. Prospal and Cronin both signed multi-year contracts. Prospal, 51, spent the last 3 seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL's Rochester Americans. In each season the Americans reached the playoffs. Prospal was in charge of the forwards and power play for the Americans and will now do the same for the Blues. Last season, the Americans power play unit ranked 4th in the AHL and 1st in the East. 

As a player, Prospal played 16 seasons in the NHL (1996-2004, 2005-2013). Prospal played 1,108 games with 255 goals, 510 assists, 765 points, and a -57. In the playoffs, Prospal played 65 games with 10 goals, 25 assists, 35 points, and a -7. Prospal spent the most of his career (6 seasons) with the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Cronin, 63, most recently spent 1 season as head coach with the Iowa Wild (2025-2026). Under Cronin, the Wild were 72-36-9. Before becoming the Wild head coach, Cronin was head coach for the Anaheim Ducks for 2 seasons (2023-2025). 

Overall, Cronin coached 164 games and was 62-87-15 with 139 points and a points percentage of .424. Cronin had his best season in 2024-2025. That season, the Ducks were 35-37-10 with 80 points and a points percentage of .488. The wins, points, and points percentage were all career highs for Cronin in his career as an NHL head coach. 

Cronin was fired by the Ducks on April 19, 2025, and replaced by Joel Quenneville. 

Cronin will be in charge of the Blues defensemen and penalty-kill unit. Cronin is reunited with Blues defenseman Cam Fowler. Both Cronin and Fowler know each other from the Ducks. 

On paper, both Prospal and Cronin seem to be great hires for Montgomery's coaching staff.