Dan Bertram to join Giants next season?
Giant plans for next year
Evolving franchise wants college centre to join Don Hay's team
Iain MacIntyre
Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
During year-end meetings with staff, most junior hockey players are instructed to spend their summer working on conditioning and strength. The Vancouver Giants are asking winger J.D. Watt to work on Dan Bertram.
"They're friends back in Calgary," Giants owner Ron Toigo explained Tuesday. "They've played minor hockey together. J.D.'s gone to get his centre."
The Western Hockey League team will try to convince Bertram, the explosive forward they chose immediately behind Gilbert Brule in the 2002 bantam draft, to leave Boston College for the Giants next season.
To get Bertram from BC to B.C., the Giants want Watt to sell his 18-year-old buddy on the benefits of the organization and league.
"He finishes school in May and then him and his dad will come out here and we'll talk about it," Toigo said. "He has a legitimate interest in playing here."
In 2003-04, Bertram was rookie-of-the-year in the Alberta League after scoring 55 points in 44 games for the Camrose Kodiaks.
Last fall, National Hockey League Central Scouting ranked Bertram the top draft-eligible prospect in college hockey. But in Boston, Bertram slipped during his freshman season to the third line from the first and finished with 17 points in 38 games.
Central Scouting ranks him 32nd among all North American skaters. (Brule is No. 6).
"He's not far behind Brule [in talent]," Toigo said. "He's an unbelievable skater. He could be the best skater in our league."
"He's pretty good; I can tell you that much," Watt said. "He's the fastest player I've ever played with. Definitely he could have impact just like Brule. They play a different style of game, but they're very competitive."
Bertram would replace Adam Courchaine, the high-scoring centre whose last WHL game was the Giants' 3-2 playoff loss Saturday against the Kelowna Rockets.
If he comes, Bertram will be the Giants' most important newcomer. The most important guy coming back is coach Don Hay, whose opinion of Bertram -- or anyone else -- should be the only one that counts once the season begins.
After refusing to tailor his systems or coaching style to suit players, Hay's intractability was validated by the Rockets, who beat the Giants in six games because they are flawlessly structured and every player accepts the system and his role in it.
The uneasy transition of the Giants to Hay from previous coach Dean Evason was evident in the revolving door on the dressing room.
Skilled winger Ty Morris wasn't Hay's type of player and was dispatched to Red Deer. Hay wasn't Shaun Vey's type of coach, and the promising prospect forced a trade to Tri-City. Andy Schenn was acquired for his toughness, then traded a few weeks later due to character.
Ryan Costanzo, the checking centre acquired as part of the Vey trade, was a healthy scratch the final game of the season.
Ten of 23 Giants who played in the playoffs weren't in Vancouver when the season began.
Hay is determined to establish a winning culture, but he needs players eager to learn the language. This may be Canada, but a melting pot works better than a mosaic for hockey teams.
Hay accepts style only when it comes with substance, but substance can stand alone. Consider that two of Hay's favourite players were Chad Scharff and Paul Albers, low-key guys who were considered fringe players but became regulars because they never coasted through a shift.
"We were a feel-good team, as much as we hated that label," winger Mitch Bartley said, referring to the Giants' tendency to play well only when they felt well. "We kind of got rid of that in the playoffs. It's a huge credit to get rid of that."
Hay's vital allies are Toigo, who is willing to do anything to help his team, and general manager Scott Bonner, an outstanding evaluator and shrewd trader.
"It will get to the point where everyone on the team will be Don's guy," Toigo promised. "Even at the end of the year, not everybody was Don's guy. Until we get to that point, we won't be the real cohesive unit Don wants.
"We weren't looking at winning this year when we hired Don Hay; we were looking at making it a successful franchise forever."
They didn't win this year. Picked in the pre-season to be among the best teams in Canada, the Giants lost as many games as they won in the regular season before discovering themselves in the playoffs.
"I think we learned the value of work," Hay said. "I don't think we really understood the value of that throughout the year."
Bruce Hamilton, who built the Rockets into the WHL's flagship franchise, understands.
"They're a step away right now," he said. "They'll get better. It will be Don's team."
Tell Bertram.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
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Originally Posted by Jovorock
How convenient would it be if we knew we would have Kassian on our team next season? 
