Joel Otto - Off The Ice

Off The Ice

Otto and his wife Kary have two children, Ben and Kacey. The family settled in Calgary, but return to Minnesota for various events. Following his retirement as a player, Otto worked for Calgary law firm MacLeod Dixon as a professional player consultant and later for a company that manufactured golf clubs. Otto is active within the community. As a player with the Flames, he was a spokesman for the Calgary Children's Milk Fund Society, and was named the recipient of the Ralph T. Scurfield Humanitarian Award in 1993 in recognition of his leadership and community involvement. Otto remains active with the Calgary Flames Alumni Association and in 2004 joined the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League (WHL) as a spokesman for their "Hitmen Kidz" community program.

While he had worked with the University of Calgary Dinos hockey program for a couple seasons following his retirement, Otto left to be closer to his family. He returned to the game in 2006 as an assistant coach for the Hitmen. He helped coach the Hitmen to the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions in 2009–10, and returned for his fifth season behind the bench in 2011–12.