Swift Current Broncos general manager Chad Leslie announced Tuesday the WHL club suspended coach Devan Praught indefinitely following an alleged violation of the league’s Standards of Conduct during a team practice Monday.
In a video of the incident, reviewed by The Athletic, Praught can be seen skating across the ice at Swift Current’s Innovation Credit Union iPlex while shouting and swearing at 17-year-old defenseman Josh Fluker during a drill. As he approaches Fluker, he confronts him at the team’s bench and swings his stick down, breaking Fluker’s stick.
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The WHL Security Network is investigating the incident. This is the second time this season a WHL coach has been suspended indefinitely, after Wenatchee Wild coach Kevin Constantine was suspended following an investigation into “derogatory comments of a discriminatory nature” he made in September.
“The WHL and the Broncos are committed to holding players and staff to the highest standards of conduct both on and off the ice,” the Broncos said in the statement announcing Praught’s suspension Tuesday.
Leslie, who was reached by phone by The Athletic on Tuesday afternoon, declined to comment further, pending the results of the league’s investigation.
Praught is in his third season as Swift Current’s coach. He also served as an assistant coach with Team Canada White at the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Broncos assistant coach Taras McEwen has assumed head coaching duties.
(Photo: Jonathan Kozub / Getty Images)
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