The next step in Trent Vogelhuber’s hockey career is (finally) in Columbus.
After spending the past several seasons leading the AHL's Cleveland Monsters, Vogelhuber is joining the coaching staff of the 2026-27 Columbus Blue Jackets as an assistant coach.
President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell made the announcement official Tuesday morning.
“Trent has done a fantastic job over the past four seasons in Cleveland and is one of the bright, young coaches in our game,” said Waddell. “He is hard-working, an excellent communicator, knows our players and will be a great addition to our staff in Columbus.”
NEWS: #CBJ have announced that Trent Vogelhuber has joined the club as an assistant coach. In addition, Nick Bootland has been named as head coach of @TheAHL's @monstershockey.https://t.co/4FL4WjjPk2
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) June 30, 2026
For Vogelhuber, the move represents another milestone in a career that has stayed closely connected to central Ohio. The Dublin native was the first Columbus-area player drafted by the Blue Jackets organization when the club selected him in the seventh round of the 2007 NHL Draft.
He bounced around the AHL, including 70 games with the Monsters — then known as the Lake Erie Monsters — in the 2015-16 season. He scored 11 goals and added 16 assists that season, posting a career-high 27 points.
The Monsters won the Calder Cup (the AHL championship) that season.
After retiring as a player in 2018, Vogelhuber immediately joined the Monsters coaching staff, spending four years as an assistant coach before being promoted to head coach in 2022.
Since then, Vogelhuber has quickly become one of the more respected young coaches around the minors. His work in Cleveland has received well-deserved praise for both player development and team structure, and the Monsters consistently remained competitive despite frequent roster changes.
Vogelhuber's AHL head coaching record of 145-108-35 includes three playoff berths in four seasons, including this season when the Monsters advanced to the final game of the second round before losing to the Toronto Marlies.
At 37, Vogelhuber will likely be the youngest coach on Rick Bowness' staff — but he will be no stranger to many players on the main roster. Those players, as they did with Bowness in the end-of-season media availability, point to Vogelhuber's ability to communicate as his greatest strength.
The Blue Jackets have at least two openings after dismissing assistants Scott Ford and Mike Haviland at the end of the season. Another assistant coach, Steve McCarthy, was let go in January when the Blue Jackets fired head coach Dean Evason.
More experienced NHL coaches are expected to assume those roles, though Vogelhuber could become a coach-in-waiting behind Bowness, who at 71, is the oldest coach in the league and whose contract with Columbus is season-by-season.
According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, Vogelhuber will work with the Columbus penalty kill "extensively". That's been a sore spot for the Blue Jackets for several seasons now, including a 28th-rated PK unit this past season.
Bowness is expected to handle most of the defensive load, meaning additional coaches hired in the coming days or weeks will likely be offensive and skill-based coaches.
Nick Bootland, who has spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Hersey Bears, has been named Vogelhuber's replacement in Cleveland.
As an assistant with the Bears, Bootland, 47, helped Hershey advance to the playoffs in all four seasons and also captured back-to-back Calder Cup championships in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
