Saint John’s associate coach and director of hockey operations discussed a number of topics regarding Saturday’s trade deadline and the Sea Dogs’ decision to not make any deals. Kelly also talked about the departure of forward Maxime Villemaire, the arrival of Charlie Coyle, and when his team may finally ice a full lineup.
Here’s what Kelly had to say in his interview with Sea Dogs play-by-play man Tim Roszell.
On the Sea Dogs’ activity (or lack thereof) on deadline day.
“It was not as busy today but we had been busy right up until today. We had a lot of oars in the water. We were working on a lot of things. Ultimately, one of the players we were interested in didn’t move. There didn’t seem to be a fit there in the opinion of the other team – and that’s fine. There are a lot of factors that go into player movement and a lot of things that need to fit and there just wasn’t anything there today.”
His thoughts on what went on throughout the league on deadline day.
“I think, probably, the biggest surprise were the teams that didn’t appear that they were going to make a run at it decided to make a late charge and made themselves a little bit better and get themselves into the mix a little bit. I guess I would say that the fact that the talent was spread out a little bit through the league minimizes the damage. From that standpoint, it was pretty good. I think probably, in retrospect when we look back, the additions we made with (Charles-Olivier) Roussel and Charlie Coyle are the two biggest flashes, obviously, that we made in significant additions to our team.”
On the current status of Maxime Villemaire.
“We had a good chat with Max (Friday). He’s a real good kid and there are a lot of things that hit these kids this time of year. They have to face a move and so on. Some kids just need a little bit more time. We had a real good meeting with him and we’re hopeful that he’s going to take a step back and we think that we need to give him a little bit of room, a little bit of space right now. He’s a good player and he’s a good kid. We’re hoping that he revaluates the situation and how important that he could be to our team and how much he could enjoy it. We’re hopeful. I think with all our kids that we have to remember that they’re teenagers and things happen. Everybody copes just a little bit differently and I think you need to give them the respect they deserve to work through it.
“It’s easy to sit back and say that that’s what the league is about but these kids, they don’t deal with that every day and it’s a learning process for everybody. So, as we’ve done in the past we try to deal with him as if he was our own kid and give him the space that he requires. It’s easy to tell him what you think but, at the same time, they have to be ready to hear it. So, we’re kind of giving him a little bit of space right now.”
On a side note to this, Villemaire spoke to the Drummondville newspaper L’Express about his decision to go home on Friday.
On the arrival of Charlie Coyle.
“Well, he’s a big horse of a player. He’s a highly skilled player that plays well in all three zones. He can score. He’s a physical presence in that he can plant himself into areas and cannot be moved. He’s obviously a very, very high end player. He’s a world class player. There are not many of them in the league. We saw one move today to Shawinigan and we think that we got the other one. We’re thrilled to have him. We’re looking forward to the day we get all our guys back on the ice and see where we’re at. I think that’s probably one of the biggest unknowns right now – how good we are. We’ll figure that out in the next month probably.”
On not making any major trades during the trading period.
“There has to be someone available for you to pick up. It’s not whether or not you want to make a move, it’s whether or not there’s a fit there. There wasn’t. We had a lot of oars in the water and it didn’t work out. That said, we think we’re a pretty good hockey team. We like our guys, we like our blue-line. Two years ago, everyone was upset that we didn’t make a move when every team was asking for Jonathan Huberdeau and that turned out okay. We think we have some other pretty good young players that we’ve decided to hold on to – and that’s our philosophy. We don’t like trading our kids. We like developing them and if there’s a trade out there that makes sense - then we’ll do it. If it doesn’t make sense - we’re not likely to do it.”
On when we’ll see the 2011-12 Saint John Sea Dogs at full strength.
“We’re hoping the end of January but, I don’t know, it could be a little longer, I don’t know. We as coaches can waste a lot of time worrying about the players we don’t have and we haven’t done that this year. We’ve worried more about the people we do have and the kids have been real good. They’ve played hard and we’ve been able to sustain a reasonably strong level (of play). Hopefully going forward here we start adding players and we’ll be a stronger team.”
"Two years ago, everyone was upset that we didn’t make a move when every team was asking for Jonathan Huberdeau and that turned out okay"
ReplyDeleteActually most people were happy that if the cost was Huberdeau that we didn't do it not the other way around there Mike!
Actually a lot of people did want Huberdeau moved.
ReplyDeleteLove all of the arm chair GM's that come out this time of year. You don't know what other teams wanted in terms of players