After 34 years of testing, Maxwell is advancing to a new role | TheAHL.com

Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer

Kevin Maxwell I had a chance to try something new.

As a player, he played 66 games in the NHL, skated in the Stanley Cup Final, and was an Olympian with Canada at the 1980 games in Lake Placid. He won two Calder Cup championships, with the Maine Mariners and the Hershey Bears.

After scoring a career-best 36 goals during the Bears' 1987-88 championship season, Maxwell retired at the age of 28 and went straight to scouting for Hershey's parent team, the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a career move, as aside from one half-season in the Western Hockey League as a head coach with Brandon, Maxwell spent 34 years in various scouting roles with the Flyers, Hartford Whalers, New York Islanders, Dallas Stars and New York Rangers.

In 2022, Doug Armstrongwho had been general manager in Dallas when Maxwell was a pro scout there from 2006-08, approached Maxwell with an offer to run the program with the Blues' AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Become a general manager. Continue working as a pro scout, too.

“When Doug approached me about this,” Maxwell recounts, “he said I'd have more than enough to do. And he was right.”

Maxwell, who settled his family in nearby Connecticut while scouting, is the Blues representative down in Springfield. He handles the day-to-day affairs of the hockey team, is involved with the organization's prospects and development coaches who are tasked with working with Thunderbirds players. Last weekend he was in St. Louis in the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase, a preseason tournament featuring the Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild.

“He touches on a lot of different aspects, which was really exciting for me,” Maxwell said.

This weekend he returned to St. Louis as the team opens its preseason schedule. The Blues play seven preseason contests as their rosters at the NHL and AHL levels begin to take shape. However, Maxwell's team can still change a lot. A single move here, and a move there, may trigger a series of subsequent operations.

“Until you see the whites in their eyes, you don't really know who you're getting,” noted Maxwell.

Since the Thunderbirds first played in Springfield in 2016, the team has found great success in building a strong fan base. The president of the group Nathan Costa and his staff handled the franchise well off the ice, and St. Louis wants to match that success on the ice. The Thunderbirds, a Calder Cup finalist in 2022, missed the cut for the postseason last season, so the Blues went to work this summer.

Louis entered Steve Konowalchuk as the new coach in Springfield to take over Drew Bannisterwho was promoted to the Blues in December. Springfield's roster has yet to be determined, but there are several intriguing prospects who could see time with the Thunderbirds.

“Our philosophy is to improve and win,” said Maxwell. “But as a GM, you're trying to build, you're trying to get to where those two meet – the progressives and the successful – to create a real positive situation for our kids and our veterans.”

Maxwell is learning every day, even after nearly five decades in the game. Thinking back on his conversations with Armstrong, that's what he came to the organization of St. Everyone in Springfield this fall, be it a player, coach, or management, is there to improve and learn.

“When I visualize how I can learn and develop myself into another role, that's probably the biggest reason I came here,” Maxwell said. “We all have goals. The American League is a developmental league not only for players but also for managers, so I still have a goal of becoming a general manager in the NHL. I realized that this could help me. I have always believed that you should have goals. I appreciate the opportunity Doug has given me and I look forward to taking that next step in my career.

“Winning the Stanley Cup is still my biggest dream.”

In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL's James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league's top scorer in 2016.