Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Jody Kinnear As a defenseman with the Albany River Rats during a tough period for hockey in the 1990s, he played a hard-nosed, team-first, charmless style of play.
So it’s only fitting that Kinnear coaches with the same selfless, low-key approach he plays football with.
Now, as then, his work is paying off.
As of New Year’s Eve, his Charlotte Checkers hold the top scoring percentage in the Atlantic Division and will head to the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Spotlight 29 Casino on February 2-3 in Palm Desert, California. race.
Kinnear was a player in the AHL All-Star Classic in 1996 and 1998 and was selected, but was injured two other times in his eight professional seasons.
Kinnear, 51, entered the AHL as a 20-year-old rookie in 1993 with the New Jersey Devils, a seventh-round pick who had to fight for every minute in the organization’s ultra-competitive and booming developmental system. Playing time. He won the Calder Cup with the River Rats in his second season and subsequently earned the title of Albany captain.
But as Albany produces one future NHL player after another, it becomes increasingly impossible to be on the roster of NHL teams that win the Stanley Cup. After six years in New Jersey’s system, Kinnear had a breakthrough signing with the expansion team Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, making his NHL debut on March 6, 2000, in Montreal.
He returned to the Devils in a trade in November 2000 before a back injury halted his career. Kinnear was forced to retire at just 27 years old and served as an assistant coach in Albany during the 2001-02 season.
Now in his 23rd season on the AHL bullpen, Kinnear has become a regular in the league. He stayed in Albany after the River Rats formed a developmental partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes, then moved to Charlotte in 2010 when the team moved south.
In 2016, Kinnear was offered a head coaching position when the Florida Panthers hired him to lead their new affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Panthers spent 2020 with Charlotte, but Kinnear spent 2020-21 overseeing their players in Syracuse after the Checkers opted out of the COVID-shortened season. He officially returns to the Queen City in 2021, and the club is 19-8-1-2 (41 points) this year, two points shy of the top spot in the Atlantic.
Even with injuries plaguing them, they’ve still performed well, winning 12 of their last 16 games. After a 3-2 overtime win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday, they enter a weeklong break before beginning a six-game homestand on Jan. 10.
“To me, that’s really where we took off – the way that everyone embraced it [with] We play how we want to play,” Kinnear said. “It’s been a collective effort. Everyone has contributed to the team’s success so far.
There’s no question that Charlotte has a deep pool of high-end talent. The team’s offensive efficiency is 30.8% (including 38.2% at home), which is far ahead in the league, and can launch offense when needed. They lost 2-0 to the Penguins on Friday but bounced back John LeonardOvertime winner. But if a team takes a head coach’s approach, the Checkers fit that description. They lead the league in goals scored (3.67 goals per game). They have outshot their opponents in 25 of 30 games and are allowing a league-low 24.5 shots per game this season. They shot 87.1 percent from the penalty spot, which ranked third in the AHL, and scored a league-high nine goals while shorthanded.
The Checkers are a very detailed team.
Over the years of his career, whether on the ice or on the bench, Kinnear has developed some non-negotiable principles in how he manages his team and how his players play.
“You have to respect the process,” he outlines. “You make sure you’re winning every day and you’re teaching the right way to play and what winning hockey looks like. Whether it’s a win, a bad game, or a good game and a loss, You all do that. I think you have to be consistent.
And so does the Checkers, which is why Kinnear is headed to Acrisure Arena next month.
“I’m proud of this team so far,” Kinnear said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but I’m very, very honored and humbled to represent the Checkers.”
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor for SiriusXM NHL Network Radio . In 2016, he received the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
