HC Davos Head Coach Josh Holden was a guest at yesterday's CHL Draw in Zurich, Switzerland and helped draw up the match-ups for the 2026/27 Regular Season live on stage. Following the Draw, we caught up with him for a short interview.
The 48-year-old ex-NHLer retired from playing in 2018 as a cult player of Swiss side EV Zug and then moved on to coaching. He started as an assistant coach with Zug before moving into the Head Coach position of the HC Davos organisation for the 2023/24 season.
"When the best play against the best, you get great hockey!"Josh Holden, HC Davos
"There's a lot of work that goes into winning," Holden said when asked about his feelings of bringing Davos back into Europe's elite club ice hockey competition, "but everything we do, we want to win at. Adding the Champions Hockey League into our season is another goal for us."
Holden has experience of the CHL as a player and as a coach from his time with Zug, what experience can he give his side for their big return? "Some at least I hope! But we need to worry about ourselves first and get into the flow and start with some wins," he responded.
After discussing how Davos will prepare for their foreign opponents, the Davos Head Coach talked about the benefits of CHL games developing hockey in Europe: "When the best play against the best, you get great hockey. When games become important, you have to be ready. We're not here for a holiday, we're going up to Sweden to make Rögle and their coach Dan Tangnes grumpy!"
It's no surprise Holden singled out Rögle and Tangnes in his response, the pair go back a long time and it was Tangnes who took Holden on as an assistant coach at Zug when he retired in 2018. The pair ended up working together for five seasons, winning championships and playing in the CHL.
Wondering what team will push Davos the most in the Regular Season? The answer could lie somewhere up north in Holden's view, though he didn't specifically give away much, instead focusing on the positive trajectory of Swiss hockey: "Swiss hockey has really evolved over the last few years. When we face teams from Finland and Sweden, they look and work similarly to Swiss teams, but their line depth is superb. Having the opportunity to get an early start to the season is going to be great," he ended.