The Maple Leafs are out of the NHL playoffs. Now, the organisation have started working towards next season with hiring a new video coach.
The Maple Leafs announced yesterday the hiring of Sam Kim as the club’s new video and coaching coordinator. He previously worked as a video coordinator with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors for the previous two seasons.
The Condors work as the AHL affiliate to the New York Islanders. And the fact is that Kim worked for the NHL organisation earlier in his career.
But not as a video coach. It was way more bizarre than that.
Speaking to The Athletic back in march, Kim talked about his first paid position in hockey as the mascot for the New York Islanders, Sparky.
He worked as the mascot from 2008 to 2011 as a full-time gig.
“It was fun to be a silly clown for a little bit and get paid to do it,” Kim told The Athletic. “But I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do, and it wasn’t very satisfying.”
Besides working as the video coordinator in Bakersfield, Kim also held the job as the video coach of the South Korean national team in the 2008 Olympics.
Now, he’s heading to Canada. And we’re pretty sure he won’t take the job as the Maple Leafs mascot Carlton the Bear as an extra source of income.
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