GLENDALE, Ariz. — Darcy Regier’s return to the NHL was a short one. Two NHL sources confirmed that the Coyotes assistant general manager will leave the organization after a year and a half on the job for personal reasons.

Coyotes general manager Don Maloney later confirmed the news.

Maloney hired Regier in July of 2014 after former assistant GM Brad Treliving left the organization to become the Calgary Flames GM.

Regier, has ties to Maloney from their days in the Islanders organization. Maloney first met Regier at the end of Maloney’s playing career with New York in 1989. Maloney was also New York’s GM from 1992-95. Regier was the Islanders’ assistant GM for part of that time, and served as interim GM when Maloney was fired during the 1995-96 season.

Regier also served as director of hockey administration for the Islanders and supervised the club’s amateur development; roles he was hired to tackle with the Coyotes in addition to taking on the myriad duties Treliving filled from scouting and player evaluations to staffing.

Regier was Buffalo’s GM from 1997 to 2013. He and coach Ron Rolston were fired in November 2013 when Buffalo got off to a 4-15-1 start, the worst start in franchise history and just short of tying the NHL record.

It is unclear if the Coyotes will fill Regier’s vacancy, but with two other assistant GMs it is possible they will not. Chris O’Hearn serves as the Coyotes assistant general manager for hockey operations. Among other things, he is charged with managing the team’s salary cap.

The team also hired John Chayka in the offseason as assistant general manager for analytics.

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