Malc
04-22-2008, 02:12 PM
By Dana Soleski
DS: Bruce, what would you say was the biggest lesson your team learned this season?
BH: Our team got comfortable around the end of February and early January. And, I think at that time we maybe thought we were a better team than we actually were. We didn’t pay attention to the fact that the other teams were getting tougher as the season wore on and it cost us. But, that’s maturity. We had a very young team and, hopefully, we’ll learn from that.
DS: If you could pinpoint one missing element on your team, what would that be?
BH: Most of all, we lack leadership. We had too many young guys who were trying to shoulder that load but either didn’t have the experience to do it or weren’t that type of player.
DS: With the early off season, when will the players get back into the gym to work out in preparation for next year?
BH: Our school guys got back into the gym today. Last spring we asked our school players to stay in Kelowna at least until the end of the term so they could begin their off season workout programs here. And, that worked really well and we’re doing the same this year. For our guys who are out of school, their workout schedule begins on May 1.
DS: Do you expect to make any major additions to your lineup this off season?
BH: Certainly, we’re hoping to get a crack at Mikael Backlund (who starred for Team Sweden at the 2008 World Juniors). And, we have a couple of American players we’d love to add. With them, we’re going to wait until after the NHL Draft in June and see how they feel about coming here.
DS: Can you tell us more about these American players?
BH: One is Danny Kristo, who’s a 1990-born player from Minnesota. He played in the USA National Development team this past season but has a year of high school left. So, he can’t go to college this coming year. He is rated highly for the upcoming NHL Draft (40th North American prospect in Central Scouting’s Midterm rankings) and depending on who selects him, coming here might be a strong option. A lot of NHL teams like to see their prospects fast-tracked and the best way to do that is to play major junior.
Another player is Mike Carmen who’s currently at the University of Minnesota. We tried hard to get him last summer. If he comes here next season it would be as an overage player and I will certainly be following up with him soon.
And, Nick Shore is a guy from Denver who we picked in the 2007 Bantam Draft. We’re going to pursue him hard.
DS: What is the latest on the status of Backlund?
BH: I talked to his agent recently and as you know, Calgary drafted him. So, where he ends up next year will be driven largely by Darryl Sutter. And, Darryl usually likes to see his European prospects come over here to learn the North American lifestyle. At the same time, there’s a great demand for Backlund’s services among teams in the Swedish pro league. We’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
DS: What about Luke Moffat, your top pick in the 2007 Bantam Draft?
BH: Of course, Luke played for Compuware in Detroit this past season and had a really good year. His team got put out of the playoffs earlier than expected, but he personally played well all year. Other than that, I can’t tell you much about whether he’s going to come and play in the WHL or the NCAA. Again, we want him, but he has to make the decision.
DS: How would you rate the job done by your coaching staff this past year?
BH: Overall, I would say I’m very satisfied. I know Ryan Huska learned a lot and we’re looking forward to seeing him continue to develop as a coach. Some things happened throughout the course of the year that we know Ryan will be better at in future seasons. He took this job without any head coaching experience and, to be honest, we expected he’d have some growing pains. Jeff Finley made real good strides as an assistant coach for our defense. He’s not a boisterous guy and sometimes you have to be really strict with the players. At the same time, his NHL experience was invaluable in our dressing room. The players respect a guy who played as long as he did in the NHL. As the season wore on, Jeff became more involved in the decision making process. Both Kim Dillabaugh and Ryan Cuthbert made great contributions. And, in Luke Schenn and Tyler Myers, we’ve got two defensemen who could be top 10 picks in the NHL draft. That says a lot about all our current coaches and also a lot about Jeff Truitt, who had a hand in the development of both those guys.
DS: You mentioned Schenn. Some suggest he could play in the NHL next season. What are your thoughts on that?
BH: Right now, we’re planning for next year as if he won’t be back. It’s still a huge step for a young player to take, but, Luke’s a guy who could do it. We’d love to have him back, of course. But, if we don’t plan for him being gone we’ll get burned. That’s what happened many years ago with Kyle McLaren. He was drafted by Boston and made the team that same year. We can’t afford to let that happen again and not be prepared.
DS: What about the draft possibilities for Myers, Brandon McMillan and Colin Long?
BH: Myers will certainly be taken in the top 15, maybe the top 10. McMillan and Long will both be drafted – likely anywhere from the first to fourth round.
DS: You must be excited about the season Long had in nearly leading the league in scoring?
BH: Yes, I’d say he definitely exceeded our expectations. But, Lorne Frey kept saying all along that it would just be a matter of time until Colin became a great player. We kept him here till the end of school last spring and got him started on his workout program. He really bought into the workout program and committed to getting stronger. And, the results were obvious. He’s a great story. It took time, but he realized he had to work harder to make himself a great player. He needed time to mature and improve his speed and strength. Those two elements are what the game’s all about these days.
DS: Any thoughts on whom your 20-year-olds might be next year?
BH: Myles MacRae has already told our coaches that he’ll be playing with Victoria in the BCHL next season so he won’t be in the mix.
We have Colin Joe and Tysen Dowzak who are both eligible. At this point, I’d say we won’t likely have two 20-year-olds on defence, but that feeling might change.
If we get Carman, he would be a 20-year old.
DS: Are you happy with the development of Cody Almond?
BH: Cody’s a talented player who’s got lots more to offer than what we’ve seen. We’re frustrated with him. Some nights, he plays like a star and other nights, he’s not there. He spends way too much time worrying about putting up points than just going out and playing. That’s an issue we’ve talked to him about many times. He’s got a great opportunity. He was drafted by Minnesota last spring and he could play in the NHL. This summer he’ll be going to camp with them and, hopefully, he learns what it will take for him to make it there one day. We’re looking forward to seeing him become the type of player he can be.
DS: Bruce, what would you say was the biggest lesson your team learned this season?
BH: Our team got comfortable around the end of February and early January. And, I think at that time we maybe thought we were a better team than we actually were. We didn’t pay attention to the fact that the other teams were getting tougher as the season wore on and it cost us. But, that’s maturity. We had a very young team and, hopefully, we’ll learn from that.
DS: If you could pinpoint one missing element on your team, what would that be?
BH: Most of all, we lack leadership. We had too many young guys who were trying to shoulder that load but either didn’t have the experience to do it or weren’t that type of player.
DS: With the early off season, when will the players get back into the gym to work out in preparation for next year?
BH: Our school guys got back into the gym today. Last spring we asked our school players to stay in Kelowna at least until the end of the term so they could begin their off season workout programs here. And, that worked really well and we’re doing the same this year. For our guys who are out of school, their workout schedule begins on May 1.
DS: Do you expect to make any major additions to your lineup this off season?
BH: Certainly, we’re hoping to get a crack at Mikael Backlund (who starred for Team Sweden at the 2008 World Juniors). And, we have a couple of American players we’d love to add. With them, we’re going to wait until after the NHL Draft in June and see how they feel about coming here.
DS: Can you tell us more about these American players?
BH: One is Danny Kristo, who’s a 1990-born player from Minnesota. He played in the USA National Development team this past season but has a year of high school left. So, he can’t go to college this coming year. He is rated highly for the upcoming NHL Draft (40th North American prospect in Central Scouting’s Midterm rankings) and depending on who selects him, coming here might be a strong option. A lot of NHL teams like to see their prospects fast-tracked and the best way to do that is to play major junior.
Another player is Mike Carmen who’s currently at the University of Minnesota. We tried hard to get him last summer. If he comes here next season it would be as an overage player and I will certainly be following up with him soon.
And, Nick Shore is a guy from Denver who we picked in the 2007 Bantam Draft. We’re going to pursue him hard.
DS: What is the latest on the status of Backlund?
BH: I talked to his agent recently and as you know, Calgary drafted him. So, where he ends up next year will be driven largely by Darryl Sutter. And, Darryl usually likes to see his European prospects come over here to learn the North American lifestyle. At the same time, there’s a great demand for Backlund’s services among teams in the Swedish pro league. We’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
DS: What about Luke Moffat, your top pick in the 2007 Bantam Draft?
BH: Of course, Luke played for Compuware in Detroit this past season and had a really good year. His team got put out of the playoffs earlier than expected, but he personally played well all year. Other than that, I can’t tell you much about whether he’s going to come and play in the WHL or the NCAA. Again, we want him, but he has to make the decision.
DS: How would you rate the job done by your coaching staff this past year?
BH: Overall, I would say I’m very satisfied. I know Ryan Huska learned a lot and we’re looking forward to seeing him continue to develop as a coach. Some things happened throughout the course of the year that we know Ryan will be better at in future seasons. He took this job without any head coaching experience and, to be honest, we expected he’d have some growing pains. Jeff Finley made real good strides as an assistant coach for our defense. He’s not a boisterous guy and sometimes you have to be really strict with the players. At the same time, his NHL experience was invaluable in our dressing room. The players respect a guy who played as long as he did in the NHL. As the season wore on, Jeff became more involved in the decision making process. Both Kim Dillabaugh and Ryan Cuthbert made great contributions. And, in Luke Schenn and Tyler Myers, we’ve got two defensemen who could be top 10 picks in the NHL draft. That says a lot about all our current coaches and also a lot about Jeff Truitt, who had a hand in the development of both those guys.
DS: You mentioned Schenn. Some suggest he could play in the NHL next season. What are your thoughts on that?
BH: Right now, we’re planning for next year as if he won’t be back. It’s still a huge step for a young player to take, but, Luke’s a guy who could do it. We’d love to have him back, of course. But, if we don’t plan for him being gone we’ll get burned. That’s what happened many years ago with Kyle McLaren. He was drafted by Boston and made the team that same year. We can’t afford to let that happen again and not be prepared.
DS: What about the draft possibilities for Myers, Brandon McMillan and Colin Long?
BH: Myers will certainly be taken in the top 15, maybe the top 10. McMillan and Long will both be drafted – likely anywhere from the first to fourth round.
DS: You must be excited about the season Long had in nearly leading the league in scoring?
BH: Yes, I’d say he definitely exceeded our expectations. But, Lorne Frey kept saying all along that it would just be a matter of time until Colin became a great player. We kept him here till the end of school last spring and got him started on his workout program. He really bought into the workout program and committed to getting stronger. And, the results were obvious. He’s a great story. It took time, but he realized he had to work harder to make himself a great player. He needed time to mature and improve his speed and strength. Those two elements are what the game’s all about these days.
DS: Any thoughts on whom your 20-year-olds might be next year?
BH: Myles MacRae has already told our coaches that he’ll be playing with Victoria in the BCHL next season so he won’t be in the mix.
We have Colin Joe and Tysen Dowzak who are both eligible. At this point, I’d say we won’t likely have two 20-year-olds on defence, but that feeling might change.
If we get Carman, he would be a 20-year old.
DS: Are you happy with the development of Cody Almond?
BH: Cody’s a talented player who’s got lots more to offer than what we’ve seen. We’re frustrated with him. Some nights, he plays like a star and other nights, he’s not there. He spends way too much time worrying about putting up points than just going out and playing. That’s an issue we’ve talked to him about many times. He’s got a great opportunity. He was drafted by Minnesota last spring and he could play in the NHL. This summer he’ll be going to camp with them and, hopefully, he learns what it will take for him to make it there one day. We’re looking forward to seeing him become the type of player he can be.