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The Portland Winterhawks are expected to announce that Mike Johnston is returning to the team as head coach and general manager, according to a hockey blogger in a report posted Tuesday night.

Gregg Drinnan, a longtime Major Junior hockey and Western Hockey League reporter wrote on his blog that Johnston, 59, will be re-introduced at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday with team owner Bill Gallacher and team president Doug Piper.

"Two sources have indicated to Taking Note that the Winterhawks' next GM/head coach will be . . . Mike Johnston," Drinnan wrote in the post on the "Taking Note" blog.

Johnston had extensive experience as an assistant coach in the National Hockey League before coming to Portland in October, 2008.

He took over a team that was coming off its worst season in the franchise's 40-year history and turned it into a powerhouse that won four Western Conference titles and a Western Hockey League championship.

Johnston left Portland for a head coaching job with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who let him go 28 games into his second season there.

-- Molly Blue