Condors extend Colin Chaulk, keep coaching staff intact
Chaulk and McCambridge stayed in Bakersfield, preserving the bench that helped send 10 Condors alumni to Edmonton and lifted the power play to 20.6%.
Keeping Colin Chaulk and Keith McCambridge behind the Bakersfield bench did more than preserve a familiar staff. It protected the development pipeline the Condors have built for Edmonton, a system that has already pushed 10 Bakersfield alumni onto the Oilers roster during their run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
Chaulk signed an extension to return for his third full season as head coach and fourth overall in the organization, while McCambridge also re-upped as assistant coach. Video coordinator Kris Horn re-signed as well, giving Bakersfield another layer of continuity around a staff that has helped the club become a steady AHL feeder team for Edmonton. At the same time, goaltending coach Sylvain Rodrigue and assistant coach Nate DiCasmirro mutually agreed to part ways with the organization, and Bakersfield said it had already begun filling those openings.
For Chaulk, the retention extends a run that began on an interim basis on Feb. 11, 2022, before he was named head coach on June 27, 2022. In his first full season, Bakersfield went 37-31-4 and reached the Calder Cup Playoffs for the second straight year. The Condors also credited Chaulk with their first-ever postseason series sweep, the two-game win over Abbotsford in May 2022 that marked a turning point for the franchise.
Across two-plus seasons behind the bench, Chaulk has guided Bakersfield to a 95-70-13 record, three playoff berths and that sweep of the Abbotsford Canucks. The on-ice structure also showed up this season in special teams, where the Condors posted a 20.6 percent power play, their best mark in nine AHL seasons, and finished fifth in the league.
The development side is just as important. Bakersfield pointed to Dylan Holloway, who had 16 points in 18 AHL games this season before scoring five playoff goals for Edmonton, as one of the clearest examples of the staff’s impact. The release also highlighted James Hamblin, who reached the NHL after going undrafted, and Raphael Lavoie, who made his NHL debut after seven games with Edmonton.
McCambridge’s return matters for the same reason. He is entering his third season as an assistant and remains closely tied to the Condors’ defensive structure and penalty kill. His background includes coaching in St. John’s and Manitoba from 2011 to 2016, serving as Hartford head coach from 2017 to 2019, and working on St. John’s teams that reached the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals and the 2014 Calder Cup Finals. Bakersfield also credited him with helping prepare Philip Broberg for the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and with helping move Phil Kemp and Vincent Desharnais to the NHL.
That continuity comes after a stretch in which Bakersfield qualified for four straight Calder Cup Playoffs, missed the 2025 postseason, then returned by clinching on April 9 with a 5-2 win over Tucson. The Condors opened the 2026 Pacific Division first round with a 6-1 Game 1 win over Coachella Valley before dropping the series, a reminder that the next step for this organization still runs through the bench in Condorstown.
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