Wolves bring Anderson back as head coach

The Chicago Wolves hope the return of four-time champion coach John Anderson will bring back a sense of normalcy.

And for the Wolves, winning is normal.

At a news conference held Tuesday morning at Harry Caray's in Chicago, Wolves general manager Wendell Young formally introduced Anderson as the Wolves' coach for the next three seasons.

Anderson is happy to be a head coach again after spending the last few seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes as an assistant coach.

“Things are back to normal, it just feels right,” said Wolves senior executive vice president Wayne Messmer. “It's like he went away to college and came back.”

During Anderson's original 11 years with the team, the Wolves' made the finals six times, won four, and were in the top 5 in the league in scoring seven times.

Anderson left the Wolves in 2008 after winning their second Calder Cup, and so did the franchise's championship success.

The current five seasons in a row without a championship match the team's longest drought, the time between their 2002 and 2008 championships.

“When Don (Levin) asked me if I was coming back, I had to ask him, ‘Well, I've been here 10 years before, why do you want me to come back?' He said, ‘Well, I want you to prove that the four times you won the championships weren't a fluke,'” Anderson joked. “So I'm back to prove that the first time wasn't a fluke.”

Anderson also calls Chicago home. He is happy to be back near his family, with the people he knows and to be a part of the franchise he loves.

“I'm here with my family, I live here, I get to work with people I really care about and like,” Anderson said. “We've got great fans here, and that experience, it's priceless.”

Anderson hopes to bring the offensive punch back to the Wolves, and in turn bring the victories back.

He believes the team will have two top lines of forwards that will be able to score at a much higher rate than previous Wolves teams.

He even confidently said that the team will have one of the best power plays in the league. All the expectations are to win, and Anderson fully believes that those expectations are warranted.

“I can't' think of any coach that would think anything different,” Anderson said. “What's the point of starting the season? We don't start the season believing it's OK to have a .500 record.”