Tim Speltz was hired as the first General Manager in Silver Knights history on August 31, 2021, joining the franchise for its second AHL season and leading the team to its second consecutive playoff berth. The 2021-22 campaign was Speltz’s first season working in the American Hockey League, but he has been working with high-level prospects and in player development since 1990.

Speltz, 64, spent 25 seasons (1990-2016) as the general manager of the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs, leading the Chiefs to two WHL Championships (1991, 2008) and two Memorial Cup  Championships (1991, 2008). Speltz was also named the WHL’s Executive of the Year twice, winning the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy in 1996 and 2000. He was also named the CHL’s Executive of the Year in 1996.

Under Speltz’s leadership, the Chiefs achieved four 100-point seasons, ten seasons with 40 or more wins, and two 50-win seasons. The Chiefs won 142 playoff games, made the playoffs in 23 of 25 seasons, and went to seven conference finals and four WHL Finals. Speltz’s Spokane teams featured such players as Ray Whitney, Pat Falloon, Bryan McCabe, Jared Spurgeon, Tyler Johnson, and Kailer Yamamoto.

For two seasons (1988-1990), Speltz was the general manager of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers,

Following his tenure with the Chiefs, Speltz joined the Toronto Maple Leafs as Director of Western Area Scouting in August 2016. Speltz would remain with the Maple Leafs until the end of the 2020-21 season, and he served as the Head of Amateur Scouting for three seasons from 2018-21.

Internationally, Speltz was part of Hockey Canada’s management group for the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, as well as for the Canadian U-20 program.

Speltz lives in Henderson with his wife, Lynn. They have two daughters, Jenna and Hannah.

Ryan Craig was hired as Head Coach of the Henderson Silver Knights on June 26, 2023, the second head coach in franchise history.

Craig, 41, joins the Silver Knights for his first head coaching position after spending the previous six seasons as an assistant coach with the Vegas Golden Knights, joining the franchise in 2017 for the inaugural season and finishing his tenure with a Stanley Cup championship in 2023.

A native of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Craig’s 14-year professional playing career included 198 National Hockey League games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets. He played 711 American Hockey League games and served as captain on nine teams, including the 2015-16 Calder Cup Champion Lake Erie Monsters.

Craig played five full seasons (1998-2003) for the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings, where Golden Knights General Manager Kelly McCrimmon was the team’s owner and general manager. Craig led the team in scoring twice and served as captain for two years. In 2002-03 Craig was named to the WHL East First All-Star Team and was the Humanitarian of the Year in both the Canadian Hockey League and Western Hockey League.

A forward, Craig was an eighth-round NHL Draft selection of Tampa Bay in 2002.

Jamie Heward will serve his third season as an assistant coach with the Silver Knights in 2022-23, specifically managing the defensemen and the penalty kill. Heward was hired on November 23, 2020, following an extensive coaching career in the Western Hockey League.

Heward, 51, served as an associate coach for the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants from 2018-20, after spending the prior six seasons with the Swift Current Broncos working as both Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development. Internationally, Heward has served as an assistant coach for Canada at two World Under-17 Hockey Challenge tournaments in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Heward was a member of Manny Viveiros’ staff in Swift Current from 2016-18, winning the 2018 WHL Championship.

Before embarking on his coaching career, the Regina, Saskatchewan native spent two decades playing professional hockey after being selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, 16th overall, in the 1989 NHL Draft. A forward-turned-defenseman, Heward played in 394 NHL games from 1995-2009, playing stints with Toronto, Nashville, the NY Islanders, Columbus, Washington, and Tampa Bay.

Heward also played in 206 AHL games over that span with St. John’s, Philadelphia, Syracuse, and Norfolk. He was named a First-Team AHL All-Star in 1996 with St. John’s and in 1998 with Philadelphia. With the Phantoms in 1998, Heward led all defensemen in scoring and won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s Outstanding Defenseman, helping lead the Phantoms to a Calder Cup Championship.

He played 185 IHL games with the Muskegon Fury and Cleveland Lumberjacks from 1991-94 after playing four WHL seasons with the Regina Pats. Heward also played three seasons in Swtizerland and one in Russia. He represented Canada at four Spengler Cups and four World Championships, winning two World Championship gold medals.

Heward lives in Henderson with his wife, Ticia. They have two children, Blake and Irelyn. Blake currently plays for the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen.

Brent Kisio joins the Silver Knights as an assistant coach in 2023-24, his first season behind an AHL bench. Kisio was hired on August 10, 2023 after spending the previous 16 seasons coaching in the Western Hockey League, including eight seasons as the head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Kisio, 40, led the Hurricanes to a division title in 2015-16 and to two appearances in the Eastern Conference Final during his tenure, making the playoffs six times. The WHL did not hold playoffs in 2020 or 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Calgary, Alberta native compiled a record of 278-183-46 with the Hurricanes and was named the Eastern Conference’s Coach of the Year in 2016.

Prior to his tenure in Lethbridge, Kisio served eight seasons with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen as an assistant coach from 2007-15, also holding the role of Assistant General Manager during the 2014-15 season. The Hitmen won the Ed Chynoweth Cup and went to the Memorial Cup in 2010, and they went to the Eastern Conference Final in 2013 and 2015.

Internationally, Kisio served as an assistant coach for Canada at the World Junior Championship in 2019 and 2023, winning a gold medal in 2023. He has also represented Canada at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament and the U-17 World Hockey Championship as a head coach.

He played four seasons of NCAA hockey at the University of Nebraska-Omaha from 2003-07, appearing in 99 games and totaling 11 goals and 28 points.

Fred Brathwaite begins his third season with the HSK. He was named the first Goaltending Coach in Henderson Silver Knights history on January 3, 2021. He previously served as Goaltending Coach for the New York Islanders in 2017-18. Brathwaite also worked as the goaltending coach for Hockey Canada with their U-18 team for three seasons and held the same role with Canada’s U-20 team. He was a goalie coach for his former club, Adler Mannheim of the German Professional League (DEL) during the 2013-14 season.

Brathwaite, 49, spent nine seasons playing in the NHL from 1993-04, appearing in 254 games and posting an 81-99-37 record with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage. Brathwaite came into the league with the Edmonton Oilers in 1993 and went on to play with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets. He also spent time with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch and Chicago Wolves, Ak Bars Kazan and Avangard Omsk of the Russian Superleague (now the Kontinential Hockey League), and Adler Mannheim of the DEL.

The Ottawa, Ontario native won Goaltender of the Year honors in the RSL in 2005-06 and won Player of the Year in 2008-09 in the DEL with Adler. Before embarking on his pro career, Brathwaite won a Memorial Cup and an OHL Championship in 1990 with the Oshawa Generals.

Jake McKamey joins the Silver Knights for his first season as Manager of Team Services.

McKamey, 26, arrives after serving as Director of Hockey Operations for the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Division I hockey program for three seasons from 2019-22. He joined the hockey program as a student assistant coach in the summer of 2018.

The Franklin, Tennessee native worked as an intern with the Nashville Predators in 2017-18, and he has also served roles with USA Hockey for the 2018 World Junior Championship and the 2017 U-17 Select Development National Camp. McKamey also worked for two seasons with the Knoxville Ice Bears of the Southern Professional Hockey League and was the captain and president of the University of Tennessee’s club hockey team. He earned a degree in sports management from Tennessee and a masters in business administration from Nebraska-Omaha.

Email:  jmckamey@hendersonsilverknights.com

Todd Richardson begins his second season working in professional hockey with the Silver Knights in 2021-22. Richardson is the staffs longest-tenured Vegas resident, joining the team after spending the past 16 years working for Cirque du Soleil. Richardson joined Cirque du Soleil in 2004 and served as the Head Therapist at Viva Elvis and Michael Jackson: One. Richardson was also a therapist on the staff for Mystere and “O”.

A native of Melville, Saskatchewan, Richardson attended the University of Alberta in Edmonton for both his undergraduate and graduate studies between 1990 and 1998, during which time he worked in both hockey and football. He worked as a therapist, and became Head Athletic Therapist, while working with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League from 1998-04. Richardson was a member of the Eskimos’ 2003 Grey Cup Championship team.

Richardson lives in Henderson with his wife Nadine, sons Josh and Evan, and dog Shadow.

Hayato Ikeda joins the Silver Knights for his second season working with the team. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Ikeda worked in 2019-20 as a Graduate Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Merrimack College, and as an Assistant strength and Conditioning Coach with the school’s Division 1 Men’s Hockey program. Ikeda also worked in prior internships with  the Strength and Conditioning programs for the Division 1 football program at the University of Wisconsin. He interned at EXOS, a health and wellness company.

Ikeda earned his B.S. in Athletic Training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his M.S. in Exercise and Sports Science at Merrimack College. He is a certified Athletic Trainer and a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.

Jorge Lopez begins his second season as the Head Equipment Manager for the Henderson Silver Knights. Lopez joined the HSK late in the summer of 2021 following a three-year stint with the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds.

Lopez, 34, has spent 14 years as an equipment manager, beginning in 2008-09 with the Central Hockey League’s Laredo Bucks. Lopez, a native of Laredo, Texas, was an assistant equipment manager for two seasons with the Bucks before earning his first job as a head equipment manager in 2010-11 with the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Huntsville Havoc. Lopez would return to serve one season as the head equipment manager in Laredo before moving to the AHL as an assistant with the Texas Stars.During his three seasons with the Stars (2012-15), Lopez won a Calder Cup in 2014.

He would go on to serve as a head equipment manager with the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies (2015-16), the Fayetteville FireAntz (2016-17) and Mississippi River Kings (2017-18) of the SPHL, and WHL Seattle (2018-21).

Lopez lives in Las Vegas with his fiancee, Rachel, and their son Leo.