Hawks assistants Sheldon Brookbank and Tomas Mitell — both Colliton devotees — also were fired, but veteran assistant Marc Crawford, longtime goalie coach Jimmy Waite and others remain on board.
But he makes sense as a fill-in option until the Hawks decide on a permanent GM, who can then choose a coach.
For Colliton, the firing brought an unceremonious end to a three-year run during which nothing ever seemed to fully click.
But even after a listless effort in the Hawks’ 5-1 loss to the Jets on Friday, Colliton didn’t seem to realize the end was imminent.