A native of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Yawney spent 14 seasons with the Blackhawks organization, most recently having served as the 35th head coach in their history from 2005-07. He posted a 33-55-15 record in just over one season as Chicago’s bench boss. Before becoming Chicago’s head coach, he served as the head coach for their American Hockey League affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, for five seasons. Yawney was named the head coach of the Admirals on June 23, 2000, their inaugural season in the AHL. Under his guidance, Norfolk posted a 189-144-42-25 regular season record over five seasons while winning back-to-back South Division titles in 2001-02 and 2002-03. The Admirals made five consecutive playoff appearances and advanced to the conference semifinals twice while seeing more than 50 players advance to the Blackhawks during that span. Yawney was honored by The Hockey News as their 2003-04 “Minor Pro Coach of the Year.” Yawney began coaching during the 1998-99 season. He appeared in 20 games with the Blackhawks before suffering a season-ending broken arm in January 1999. Because of the injury, Yawney began assisting the Blackhawks coaching staff on an informal basis. When Lorne Molleken (a Sharks assistant coach in 2001-02) was named Chicago’s head coach in February 1999, Yawney became an assistant coach on Feb. 22, 1999. Yawney played in 593 NHL games over 12 seasons with Chicago, Calgary and St. Louis. The defenseman collected 129 points (27 goals and 102 assists) along with 783 PIM. He also appeared in 60 postseason contests, helping lead the Blackhawks into the 1989 and 1990 Western Conference Finals. Yawney was named captain for Team Canada in the 1988 Winter Olympics. He was originally drafted by the Blackhawks in the third round (45th overall) of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. Yawney was teammates in Chicago with Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson from 1987-91 and current Sharks forward Jeremy Roenick from 1988-91. He was also teammates with McLellan from 1983-85 with the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades. Yawney and his wife Char have two children: Ashley and Conor. |