McCrimmon turned to coaching following his playing career , serving as an assistant with the New York Islanders before taking over as head coach of the Western Hockey League 's Saskatoon Blades for two seasons between 1998 and 2000 . He then returned to the NHL as an assistant , first with the Flames then the Atlanta Thrashers and finally the Red Wings . He left the NHL to become the head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League ( KHL ) in 2011 . He never coached a regular season game however , as he was killed in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash along with most of the team after their plane crashed en route to their first game
2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash
Brad McCrimmon