One of the hottest NHL coaching prospects on the market is no longer on it. University of Denver men’s hockey head coach David Carle is staying right where he is after signing a new multi-year contract extension with the school after entertaining conversations with multiple NHL teams.

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Carle has been the head coach at Denver for the last seven seasons, guiding the team to two national championships and four trips the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four. He was also the head coach for Team USA at the last two World Junior Championships, leading USA Hockey to its first ever back-to-back gold medals at the tournament.

Carle is just 35 years old, yet has achieved a level of success most coaches need decades to reach, if they achieve it at all. As a result, NHL teams have showed interest in the young coach for the last few years.

Multiple reports suggested he was the No. 1 candidate to take the Chicago Blackhawks head coaching job, but Carle pulled himself out of consideration. Reports also suggested that Carle was contacted by other teams with openings including the Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers.

Instead, Carle will stay put at the school he once committed to as a player before a heart condition ended his playing career at just 18 years old. Carle stayed on as a student manager before going with then DU assistant Derek Lalonde for his first full-time job as a coach as an assistant with the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL.

📍: @DCarleDU
🏠: @UofDenver

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— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) May 5, 2025

Carle soon returned to Denver as an assistant under current St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery, who left for the NHL when Carle was just 27 years old. Despite his youth, the program was turned over to Carle, who maintained the standard that was left by Montgomery who had just helped the team win a national title.

By Carle’s fourth season at the helm, DU won its ninth national title and in 2024 hoisted its record 10th championship banner.

He has had just one losing season as a head coach over his seven seasons, the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign. Over the last four seasons, Carle hasn’t had a winning percentage below .716.

Why Is David Carle Staying At Denver?

So with all the success, what does Carle have left to prove at Denver? Nothing, really. But that may not be the point. I believe David Carle will be a head coach in the NHL someday. At his age, he seems to have nothing but time.

Badger Bob Johnson, who started as a younger head coach himself, coached in the NCAA for 17 years before finally making the jump to the NHL where he would eventually lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to their first Stanley Cup.

There are a couple of key factors as to why Carle is not leaving Denver. The first is family. He has young children and if he’s going to leave a very comfortable job for the relative meat grinder that is the NHL coaching carousel, it is going to have to be for the absolute right fit.

Lalonde, one of his first coaching mentors, got two years in Detroit in his first head coaching job. Jim Montgomery, another of Carle’s mentors, got let go from Boston less than six months after winning the President’s Trophy.

When Carle pulled out of the Chicago Blackhawks opportunity, it seemed imminent he would be returning to Denver unless another club was able to really knock his socks off. John A. Miller is on Denver's Board of Trustees, but is based in Chicago and previously served as an executive for the Wirtz Corporation, which owns the team. He remains close with the Wirtz family, which still owns the Blackhawks. If there was a place that could potentially offer some familiarity and stability, it seemingly would have been there. Still, Carle chose to stay put.

He has a job right now that basically is his as long as he wants it. He has an athletics department that is committed to providing the funding necessary to keep the team competitive in an increasingly changing landscape and a donor base, which includes Miller, motivated to maintain that status. Carle has even committed to reinvest some of his salary into the program, as noted in DU’s press release announcing his extension.

Carle also had to make a decision quickly for recruiting purposes. With CHL players eligible to go to the NCAA, Denver will be competitive for some of the biggest names, especially if Carle stayed. Other schools were able to remind players that Carle might not be around when they get there. Now that’s one less thing DU has to recruit against.

They could be in the mix for some of the future NHL Draft-eligible players as well as those already drafted. This is a program set up for long-term success, but in an uncertain landscape college hockey is about to enter, I could see Carle wanting to leave the program on the most solid footing possible. Sticking around for a while longer does that.

There are a ton of NHL jobs open right now. But if Carle is going to leave, I think stability, trust and the ability to win quickly will all be factors in whether or not he takes one of those jobs. Money will absolutely be a factor, but clearly it was not the top priority for the 35-year-old coach. NHL head coaches make multiple millions per season and there is not an NCAA coach in the country that is making over $1 million without significant bonuses and other benefits.

When you have the luxury of being picky, be picky. The NHL opportunities will be there for Carle, perhaps one day even closer to home in Denver. 

His value may never be higher than it is right now, but something tells me that’s probably not true. People love winners. David Carle wins. One day that will happen in the NHL, but today is not that day.

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