After his playing career was completed, Christian joined the Columbus Jr. Blue Jackets as a head coach for parts of three seasons.
During these years, Christian played alongside the all time NHL greats like Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Petr Nedved, Tomas Sandstrom, Luc Robitallie, Larry Murphy, Joe Mullen and John Cullen.
Christian was the MVP of the Cleveland Lumberjacks, scoring 40 goals and 40 assists in 66 games during the 1996–97 International Hockey League (IHL) season.
Christian played one more game in the NHL for the Phoenix Coyotes, then two more years in the IHL for the Las Vegas Thunder and Houston Aeros before returning to the Lumberjacks.
Christian returned to North America in 2005 joining the Central Hockey League's Youngstown Steelhounds and Tulsa Oilers.
[6] Took over as head coach of the Nailers during the second round of the 2016 Kelly Cup playoffs when David Gove took a personal leave of absence to deal with his drug addiction.
[7] After a two-year stint as the Nailers' head coach, his contract was not renewed after not making the Kelly Cup playoffs in either season.
Since parting ways with the Nailers, Christian has become a skill coach in the Columbus, Ohio area working with individual players, their families and teams.
While with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, Christian was Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations of their AA affiliate in Wheeling, WV.
He was responsible for all aspects of the Hockey Operations Department including recruiting/signing players, arranging housing, planning the season schedule and coordinating road trips, making public appearances on radio/TV and delivering Christmas gifts to the less fortunate.
Jeff is the son of two time Grey Cup Champion with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, tight end Gord Christian.
[citation needed] The Christian family moved to the small village of Mount Hope where Gord, and mother Diane, raised seven children.
[13] After retiring, Christian and his family moved back to the Kansas City/Independence Missouri area where Jeff became the first Director of Hockey at the Carriage Club.
The Christian family's journey and Ryan's fight were the subject of a feature article in Sports Net Magazine.