Geordie Kinnear hit the ice with his Cheers team this week in preparation for another season. The 2026-27 season is not just another season, but the 10th for the 53-year-old.
“I feel like it’s my first,” Kinnear said with a laugh.
The Florida Panthers hired Kinnear as the head coach of their then-AHL affiliate in Springfield for the 2016-17 season. With 11 seasons as an assistant coach but no head coaching experience at the time, Kinnear stepped into the role and never looked back.
“I like to teach,” he said. “I love building an identity every day, and I enjoy building relationships and always striving to be a little bit better.”
A decade after the work, for Kinnear the core of the task remains the same.
“My job is to make sure the group is organized,” he said. “That will be the hard part for me because we have people coming from all over next week. That would be my tall order. Make sure they are organized so they can be the best version of themselves.”
The launch of season 10 follows a long summer created by a disappointing first round exit five months ago. At the time, it was a bitter pill to swallow for Kinir, but now it’s a catalyst for the team’s next steps.
“You’re very emotional at the end of the year, and then over the summer it becomes more clear,” she said. “You know what went wrong, what I didn’t do well, what the band didn’t do well. Obviously, to improve as a group, as a coach and as a player, you have to identify those areas. than all.”
The first steps to move forward came this week as a smaller group hit the ice alongside a platoon of coaches from both the AHL and ECHL levels of the organization.
While some of the players on the Bojangles Coliseum ice are destined to start the season with the Savannah Ghost Pirates, these early days are important to establish some top-to-bottom values.
“If you look at our program the last three years, every level is important,” Kinnear said. “My level is important for Florida, Savannah is important for the Charlotte Checkers. We create opportunities and the most competitive and hardworking guys can be rewarded. So to pay attention to the people here, build relationships with them and understand what I’m about and what we’re about here. So if they go to Savannah, they don’t feel like they’re coming back, they don’t feel here. to it.”
The Panthers’ training camp roster remains packed as they played the third of four preseason games Thursday. When they start to thin the pack a bit is when the Checkers roster will really start to come into focus.
“A lot still depends on what Florida does,” Kinnear said of his team’s makeup. “There’s still a lot of guys out there fighting for roster spots.”
Charlotte’s roster will be bolstered when the team heads to Hershey on Oct. 3 for the season opener, and if that happens, Kinnear will be able to get back to what he loves: teaching and building.
“I’m convinced that in order for those relationships to be strong, you have to go through some setbacks along the way,” he said. “It can’t all be just birthday cakes. You have to go through those hard times and you build relationships through them. That’s definitely a direction we want to continue in.”
Ten seasons in, Kinnear is no stranger to what lies ahead in the next seven months of hockey. This time, however, he’s sure to take it all in.
“Be in the moment,” Kinnear said. “You really want to enjoy these times. Get to know the players, build relationships with them. We don’t live forever, so as a more experienced coach I want to make sure I enjoy these times. They won’t last forever. I feel very lucky and grateful to do this for a living. I never want to take that for granted.”
