Sanguinetti, Staal join Checkers coaching staff

Photos: Jacob Kupferman, Ross Dettman

The Florida Panthers have named Bobby Sanguinetti and Jared Staal as assistant coaches with their American Hockey League affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.

Sanguinetti and Staal both played for current Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear when Kinnear was an assistant with the club.

Sanguinetti, an AHL All-Star in 2010 and 2015, played 406 games in the AHL with Hartford, Charlotte, Utica and Rochester, totaling 58 goals and 171 assists for 229 points. He was a member of the Checkers’ Calder Cup championship team in 2019, and reached the Finals with the Comets in 2015.

A first-round selection by the New York Rangers in the 2006 NHL Draft, Sanguinetti played 45 games in the NHL with the Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, posting two goals and four assists.

The native of Trenton, N.J., also represented the United States at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Staal joins the Checkers after three seasons as an assistant coach with Orlando in the ECHL. The native of Thunder Bay, Ont., played 232 games in the AHL with San Antonio, Charlotte and Providence, totaling 17 goals and 19 assists for 36 points.

Staal was a second-round pick by Phoenix in the 2008 NHL Draft and played two games in the NHL, both with Carolina during the 2012-13 season.