Get To Know the New Bench Boss
Oct 12, 2026
When the Colorado Eagles named Jussi Ahokas their new head coach, they added a seasoned and well-traveled leader to the bench and a proven winner to the franchise.
Before delving into the X’s and O’s, here is a little about Jussi straight from him. He prefers coffee to tea and likes to drink it all day long. He considers himself both a night owl and an early bird, prefers sunsets to sunrises, dogs to cats, and likes to hold a book rather than listen to an audiobook. Dishonesty is his pet peeve, he is not a fan of poutine, and if he could choose a superpower, it would be reading minds. (Not a bad superpower to have if you are a coach.)
Ahokas comes to the Eagles with a strong track record, and he made history along the way as the first European-born head coach to win both an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Championship and a Memorial Cup. Internationally, he spent six seasons coaching Finland’s national junior teams, guiding them to gold medals at both the 2016 IIHF World U-18 Championship and the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship. In Europe, he spent four seasons in Finland’s top-tier Liiga with KooKoo and TPS. In 2019–20, he was named EHC European Coach of the Year and earned the Kalevi Numminen Trophy as Liiga Coach of the Year after leading KooKoo to a 37-point jump to 110 points. Two seasons later, he led TPS to a league runner-up finish. Most recently, Ahokas made his mark in North America by leading the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers to the 2025–26 OHL Championship and a Memorial Cup title, going 4-0 in the tournament, after winning the Matt Leyden Trophy as OHL Coach of the Year in 2024–25.
On his hiring, Colorado Avalanche assistant general manager and Colorado Eagles general manager Kevin McDonald said, “Jussi has done a great job with every team and every league he’s been a part of as a head coach, and we’re excited to welcome him into the Avalanche and Eagles organization.”
That steady, multi-tiered trajectory of success mirrors the path carved by Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. Having two bench bosses in the organization who know how to construct winning cultures at every level they’ve been a part of creates a shared commitment to winning across the organization.
Ahokas started his hockey career as a goalie. “As a goalie, you always see the whole ice and how everything evolves,” Ahokas reflects. He says he knew at the age of 16, when he started coaching at camps, that coaching was where he wanted to be. He walked away from a playing career at a time in life when most hockey players are pursuing their dream. While some mental skills carry over from playing goal, “leading a group of men on the ice as a coach is a whole different ballgame.”
Having coached athletes everywhere from under-16 youth programs to major juniors and international stages, Ahokas knows how to tailor his approach. While veterans who have “been around” require a different dynamic, younger pros stepping into the lineup still need foundational mentorship. “It’s always the team and then you have the individuals, and as a coach, you have to be able to coach them both.”
If you do a Google search on Ahokas, you’ll find the term “positionless hockey” showing up with his name. This doesn’t mean that forwards are suddenly defensemen and defensemen are suddenly forwards. If hockey traditionalists find themselves scratching their heads at this fluid, read-and-react deployment, it is the exact same philosophy as “total football,” which Ted Lasso embraced in his third season at AFC Richmond.
On the ice, fans can expect a system built on situational awareness and fluidity. Ahokas favors a style that asks players to read and understand the game in real time to increase pace, rather than relying on rigid, predictable loops. Whether it involves specific rotations with the third man low or defensemen jumping into the rush, the goal is to ingrain habits that translate seamlessly to the highest level. By empowering players to read the ice and interchange roles freely rather than staying locked into static positional boxes, Ahokas’s brand of positionless hockey fits neatly with the fast-paced, transitional identity Bednar relies on up top with the Avalanche.
Taking over an American Hockey League club presents a delicate tightrope walk. On one hand, the goal is to win games and chase a championship. On the other, top performers are constantly at risk of getting pulled up to the NHL. For Ahokas, however, the two concepts aren’t at war with each other; they go hand in hand. “We have to develop players if you want to win a championship,” Ahokas explains. And if a player gets the call to the parent club? “That’s great for them. We just have to have depth so it doesn’t affect us that much. Development is a key issue, and the team has to develop the whole time.”
Asked about his first impressions of northern Colorado, he said, “It’s been great. Weather’s great. All in all, I love it here.” As the Eagles prepare to drop the puck on a new season, Ahokas says he has heard the fans here are great and the building is loud, and he is looking forward to experiencing it. For Eagles fans, the message is simple: a proven winner is behind the bench, and he is eager to hear them make some noise.
