Tony Granato, former coach of the Colorado Avalanche and current coach of the Wisconsin Badgers, has been tapped to coach the U.S. men's team for the 2018 Olympics, a source told ESPN's John Buccigross.
Granato, 53, left a job as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings to take the Wisconsin position in March 2016. He played at Wisconsin from 1983 to '87 and went on to a 13-season career in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. He scored 248 goals in 775 career games.
Former NHL veteran Chris Chelios, Penguins executive Scott Young and Yale coach Keith Allain have been hired as assistant coaches, the source told ESPN's Buccigross.
NHL players will not be participating in the Olympics to be held in PyeongChang, South Korea, for the first time in six Winter Games.
The Wisconsin State Journal earlier reported Granato's hire.
Before joining the Red Wings as an assistant two years ago, Granato was both an assistant and head coach with the Avalanche, and an assistant with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was 104-78-17-16 in his three seasons as Avalanche head coach. Granato is also the older brother of Hall of Fame women's player Cammi Granato, who won a gold medal with the U.S. team in Nagano in 1998.