PROSPAL NAMED ASSISTANT COACH OF ST. LOUIS BLUES
Prospal guided Amerks to three straight playoff appearances while leading the development of the organization’s top offensive prospects
Jun 16, 2026Rochester Americans assistant coach Vinny Prospal has been named an assistant coach of the St. Louis Blues, joining a staff led by head coach Jim Montgomery.
Prospal, who oversaw the team’s offense and led the power-play during his three seasons (2023-24 to 2025-26) with the Amerks, helped the team to three consecutive playoff appearances while compiling a 112-76-28 record. The Amerks finished the 2025-26 season with the Eastern Conference’s top-ranked power-play percentage (23.3%) while scoring 61 goals while on the man-advantage, good for first in the Eastern Conference and third overall in the AHL.
Prospal was instrumental in the development of some of the top offensive prospects in the Buffalo Sabres organization over the last three years, most notably first-round picks Jiri Kulich, Isak Rosén, and Konsta Helenius, all of whom made their highly anticipated NHL debuts with the Sabres during his tenure. Kulich and Helenius were both named to the AHL’s Top Prospects Team in back-to-back years while Rosén and Helenius were each named AHL All-Stars.
Under Prospal’s guidance, Helenius enjoyed a standout season with the Amerks in 2025-26, leading the team with 63 points (21+42) in 63 games and tying for ninth in scoring in the AHL. One of three different players to represent Rochester at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic, he finished the season as the Amerks’ highest scoring teenager in franchise history in a single season, surpassing the 54 points set by Jozef Cierny during the 1992-93 campaign.
Helenius, who was one of four players to reach the 20-goal mark, also made his NHL debut this past season, picking up four points (1+3) in nine games with the Buffalo Sabres. In just his second NHL game against Nashville, he factored in on each of Buffalo's three first-period goals, becoming the seventh Finnish teenager in NHL history with a three-point game. He was also the first Sabres' skater in franchise history with a three-point outing within their first two contests.
He later rejoined the Sabres’ lineup for their final four playoff games in the Montreal series and scored a goal in back-to-back games, making him the youngest Buffalo skater (20 years and five days) to do so since Piere Turgeon.
Most recently, Helenius was front and center on the hockey world stage after scoring the golden goal in overtime to clinch a 1-0 victory for Finland in its gold medal game against host Switzerland on May 31 to bring a close to the 2026 IIHF World Championship.
Prospal joined the Amerks following three seasons (2018-2021) as head coach of HC Ceske Budejovice of the Czech Extraliga, with whom he began his playing career and had two subsequent stints with in 2004-05 and again in 2012-13. He led the team to back-to-back league championships at the second-tier level (Czech Republic Hockey League, Chance Liga) in 2018-19 and 201Pro9-20, going 63-18-5 during the regular season, and was named the League’s Coach of the Year following the 2020-21 campaign.
Prospal’s professional coaching experience also includes a two-year stint as an assistant coach of the Czech national team from 2016-2018.
As a player, the Ceske Budejovice native enjoyed a 16-year career and ranks sixth among Czechia-born players in NHL history with 1,108 career games and seventh with 765 career points. Prospal also represented Czechia in several international tournaments, including the 2006 Winter Olympics where he led the team to the bronze medal and the 2000 and 2005 World Championships where led them to the gold medal.
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