Colorado Avalanche’s new head coach Jussi Ahokas speaks directly about his salary for the upcoming season in an interview with Ilta-Sanomat.

The 45-year-old top coach managed to negotiate a fairly competitive contract in his first season in North American professional leagues. Besides Colorado, at least the Vancouver Canucks’ farm team, Abbotsford Canucks, was also interested in his services.

– Money talks. One wanted to pay in Canadian dollars and the other in US dollars. The Canadian dollar is quite weak at the moment. Taxes are also much lighter in Colorado. These create significant differences, Ahokas explained his choice leaning towards Colorado.

– The average salaries range from about $150,000 to $450,000, Ahokas says, referring to the annual salaries of AHL head coaches.

So where does Ahokas’s contract fall within that range?

– I’m somewhere in the middle. I got a pretty good contract, the man reveals.

Ahokas coached the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL junior team for the past three seasons, leading them to become the champions of the OHL and all of Canada’s major junior leagues last season.

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