Golden Knights announce Henderson Silver Knights coach

When Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon vetted potential American Hockey League coaches, his amateur scouts had particular praise for one candidate.

His teams played fast, up-tempo hockey and had four men in the rush as much as possible. In other words, they played like the Knights.

McCrimmon hired him. He introduced Emanuel “Manny” Viveiros as the first coach of the Henderson Silver Knights on Monday.

“A lot of the way I played the game, the teams I had, we emulated what the Golden Knights have been doing,” Viveiros said. “Just the style of game, that’s what I’ve always enjoyed playing, and the teams that I’ve had I’ve been fortunate enough that we’ve had enough players to be able to carry out those types of systems and tactics.”

Viveiros, 54, joins the Silver Knights after a lengthy playing and coaching career. The offensive defenseman played 29 NHL games for the Minnesota North Stars before heading to Europe.

He started his coaching career there, too, in 2007 before coming back to North America in 2016. He quickly found success in junior hockey, as his teams turned heads with their style and special teams play.

Viveiros was the coach, general manager and director of player personnel for the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos from 2016 to 2018. In his second season, the team finished with the No. 3 offense, the No. 1 power play and won the WHL championship. Viveiros was named the league’s coach of the year.

The Alberta native was hired by the Edmonton Oilers as an assistant coach afterward, but he was fired last offseason during a coaching transition. He went back to the WHL with the Spokane Chiefs and led them to the league’s fourth-best record before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the year early. The Chiefs had the No. 4 offense and No. 5 power play.

Viveiros wasn’t bitter Monday when asked about going back down the coaching ladder. He called returning to the WHL “the best thing I ever did in my career.”

“It really was an incredible experience and got me to the importance of the game is teaching,” Viveiros said. “Something I want to carry over in Henderson with these young kids again is how important it is for these young men to learn and teach them and give them the opportunity to have the best chance in the National Hockey League. Not just the hockey side of it, even more so is the off-ice and the maturity level of it and dealing with adversity, daily stresses.”

Viveiros replaces Rocky Thompson, the Knights’ AHL coach for the three seasons they were affiliated with the Chicago Wolves. Thompson left the organization for a yet-to-be-announced NHL opportunity. He led the Wolves to the 2019 Calder Cup Final, but lost 4-1 to the Charlotte Checkers.

Those are large shoes to fill, but McCrimmon thinks Viveiros is up to the task. His junior teams won and developed talent at the same time. McCrimmon expects him to do the same thing with the Silver Knights.

“He’s a person who, I think, has a really good understanding of the age group of player that’s going to be in the American Hockey League,” McCrimmon said. “The objectives that those players have, the importance of their development. He’s highly respected as a great communicator, and he’s a person that we think is going to do a really good job of helping our players reach their ceiling.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.