Craig Ramsay signs 2-year deal as Team Slovakia head coach

Craig Ramsay has signed a two-year contract as head coach of the Slovak men's national hockey team, general manager Miroslav Satan announced Wednesday, per the IIHF.

The contract will carry through the 2018 Winter Olympics, the 2018 World Championship in Denmark, and the 2019 World Championship to be played on home ice in Bratislava and Kosice.

Following a successful playing career, Ramsay briefly held three NHL head coaching jobs, serving as an interim bench boss in Buffalo and Philadelphia before one full season as head coach in Atlanta.

He complied a career record of 50-63-6-12 in 131 games, but his greatest success came as an assistant, winning the Stanley Cup with John Tortorella and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.

Ramsay's latest NHL experience came as an assistant in Edmonton in 2014-15.

His first game behind the bench will come later in August when Slovakia plays a pair of exhibition contests against the neighboring and rival Czech Republic.