Tom Fitzgerald asked a few people about Mark Dennehy while considering candidates for the Binghamton Devils coaching job in the AHL.
They told Fitzgerald he'd be a fool to pass over him.
The only caveat? Dennehy accepted a head coaching position with the Wheeling Nailers -- the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins -- just two months earlier after leaving Merrimack College. So Fitzgerald needed to ask permission just to speak with a new member of the Pens' organization.
Fitzgerald is glad he did. Dennehy emerged from a big group of candidates and was named the Devils' AHL coach on Wednesday.