Mark Letestu is moving back to the NHL bench.
The Colorado Eagles announced that Letestu has been named an assistant coach of the Vegas Golden Knights. Letestu had just wrapped up the 2025-26 season as head coach of the Eagles, where he guided the club to a 41-20-6-5 record and a berth in the AHL Western Conference Final for the first time in team history. He also earned another honor along the way, being selected as head coach of the Pacific Division All-Star Team at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic.
Before his stint in Colorado, Letestu spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. Cleveland posted a 136-117-23-16 regular season mark during that stretch and reached the Calder Cup Playoffs in each of his final two seasons with the team. That run included a North Division title in 2023-24 and a trip to the Conference Finals that year before the Monsters were eliminated by the eventual champion Hershey Bears.
Letestu’s coaching background also includes one season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, where he worked as an assistant in 2012-13.
His path to the bench started after a long playing career. Before taking his first pro coaching job in 2021-22, Letestu logged parts of 14 seasons as a professional after signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins as an undrafted free agent on March 22, 2007.
He appeared in 567 NHL regular-season games with the Blue Jackets, Penguins, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets, finishing with 210 career points, including 93 goals and 117 assists. He also added 15 points, with six goals and nine assists, in 36 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
The Elk Point, Alberta, native also played 255 regular-season games in the AHL, six in the ECHL and seven in Sweden’s Allsvenskan league. In all, he skated in 835 career regular-season games in professional leagues from 2006-20.
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