Everett Silvertips Make A Change At The Top

Word in from the Everett Silvertips that they’ve named their head coach as interim General Manager. In May the team announced it would not be renewing the contract of General Manager Garry Davidson. Here’s more.

The Everett Silvertips, eight-time U.S. Division champions and two-time Western Conference champions of the Western Hockey League, and Consolidated Sports Holdings chief executive officer Zoran Rajcic announced today that Dennis Williams, Silvertips head coach, has been named Interim General Manager effective immediately.

Williams continues his current position as Silvertips head coach, adding to his duties after helping guide the Silvertips to their fourth U.S. Division title in five seasons.

“Dennis’ experience helps us address an immediate need inside our hockey operations department with the CHL Import Draft coming up,” said Rajcic. “As we handle the objective of ‘what’s important next,’ he is a confident, well-connected, and driven individual to help us reach our goals in the oncoming months.”

As a two-time recipient of the WHL Western Conference Coach of the Year award, Williams has led the Silvertips to three U.S. Division titles and the 2018 Western Conference championship in his four seasons behind the bench, carrying a record of 154-52-7-7 (.733 percentage) in his WHL career since being named Silvertips head coach on May 15, 2017. After preparing for the pandemic shortened 2021 regular season, he guided the Silvertips to their eighth U.S. Division title, a 19-4 (38 points) record, and the second highest points percentage (.826) in the league.

Under his guidance, Silvertips players have earned the following achievements:

· Drafted by NHL teams: 8 players in 3 years
· Signed to 3-year, NHL entry level contracts or AHL contracts: 11 players in 3 years
· Earned gold medals in IIHF competition: 3 players (Carter Hart and Olen Zellweger, Canada; Dustin Wolf, United States)

The native of Stratford, Ontario also has been selected in back-to-back years as assistant coach for Hockey Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and for Team Canada Black at the 2018 U17 World Hockey Challenge.

The 2021 CHL Import Draft will be held on June 30. More details will be announced soon.

ABOUT THE SILVERTIPS AND THE NHL
A total of 20 players have suited up in an Everett Silvertips jersey and advanced to play in the National Hockey League, since the Silvertips joined the WHL in 2003-04. Entering this season, the Silvertips have elevated 27 players to be selected by teams in the NHL Entry Draft, including eight over the previous three seasons, while 11 Silvertips have signed three-year, NHL entry level or AHL contracts since 2018. The Seattle Kraken, an expansion franchise scheduled to play 30 miles away from Everett at Climate Pledge Arena, will make their NHL debut in the 2021-22 season.