Adam Oates, who played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League, was named coach of the Washington Capitals on Tuesday only minutes after being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Oates spent the 2009-2010 season as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils, who lost to the Los Angeles Kings in this year's Stanley Cup Final.
"We are very pleased to name Adam Oates," Capitals general manager George McPhee said. "Adam was a highly intelligent player in the NHL for 19 seasons. He has been an assistant coach for the past three seasons and is prepared to lead our club."
Oates was also elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Tuesday by a vote of the selection committee in Toronto. He will be enshrined in November along with Russian Pavel Bure, Sweden's Mats Sundin and fellow Canadian Joe Sakic.
Oates, who spent six seasons with the Capitals as a player from 1996-2002, will be charged with trying to push an underachieving team into Stanley Cup contention with a lineup that includes Russian star Alexander Ovechkin, a 26-year-old left wing and team captain.
Oates, who turns 50 in August, scored 341 goals and passed off 1,079 assists in 1,337 NHL games as a center with the Capitals, Detroit, St. Louis, Boston, Philadelphia, Anaheim and Edmonton.
In NHL history, only icons Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr averaged more assists per game than Oates, a five-time NHL All-Star who ranks 16th on the NHL all-time scoring list.
Oates scored 73 goals in 387 games for the Capitals and was captain of the team for two of his six seasons.
Source: AFP American Edition
