Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author
The previous 10 months have been relatively head-spinning for the Hartford Wolf Pack.
It began on a Sunday morning final November, with the staff in the midst of a three-in-three weekend. Hopes have been excessive for the membership, which was sitting at 7-3-1-0. Then got here phrase that head coach Kris Knoblauch was off to the NHL, employed as the brand new head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. With the Wolf Pack simply hours away from a matinee assembly with the Windfall Bruins, assistant coach Steve Smith stepped in for Knoblauch in an interim function.
Two and a half weeks later, captain Jonny Brodzinski earned what proved to be a everlasting recall to the New York Rangers. Different key gamers, like Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe, Riley Nash and Louis Domingue, could be misplaced for lengthy stretches because of remembers or accidents.
A late-season stoop down the stretch put Hartford’s postseason hopes in peril, however Smith’s staff pulled out of that slide, certified for the Calder Cup Playoffs, and received two sequence earlier than falling to Hershey within the division finals.
On June 27, the Rangers went to the NCAA ranks and employed Grant Potulny as their new AHL head coach. Potulny, 44, spent seven seasons as head coach at Northern Michigan College, and eight years earlier than that as an assistant at his alma mater, the College of Minnesota.
Potulny had moved instantly into teaching in 2009 following his retirement from a taking part in profession that included 5 seasons spent largely within the AHL as a reliable ahead in Binghamton, Hershey, Springfield, San Antonio and Norfolk. He had appreciable success at Minnesota, together with six regular-season convention titles and two Frozen 4 appearances. At Northern Michigan, he went 128-113-7 and reached three convention championship video games. Internationally, Potulny served as an assistant coach for the US 4 occasions on the IIHF World Junior Championship, profitable gold medals in 2013 and 2017 and a bronze in 2018.
Along with his two sons – 19-year-old Jackson and 17-year-old Owen – now off pursuing their very own hockey careers, Potulny and his household had a possibility to discover new choices. Potulny and Hartford normal supervisor Ryan Martin had constructed a longstanding relationship by way of their work along with USA Hockey.
The Rangers group is new, as is the duty of teaching execs, however the match felt snug for Potulny.
“There’s a whole lot of familiarity for me with the staff and the group,” he defined.
Potulny is aware of the professional sport from his personal taking part in days. Now he’ll be seeing the player-coach relationship from the opposite facet. His Hartford roster will seemingly be a mixture of rookies and different younger prospects in addition to older, established gamers. It will likely be a distinct dynamic from the school sport.
“I feel as you begin coping with older gamers and older folks, you must have a partnership,” Potulny stated. “There has obtained to be some give-and-take on either side of that, so I feel forming sturdy relationships with gamers goes to be necessary. Making an attempt to get to a degree as quickly as we will the place they belief what I’m doing, they usually belief me, I feel that’s actually necessary.
“Gamers who’re at this stage, they need to proceed to attempt and get higher, and we’re going to spend so much of time on improvement right here. As a participant these are issues that you just love to listen to as a result of it’s supplying you with an opportunity to additional your hockey journey. They’re on the lookout for construction. They need to be coached. They need to be pushed.”
Throughout his personal taking part in days, Potulny had his personal teaching examples, taking part in for a few AHL Corridor of Famers in John Paddock and Bruce Boudreau. It was an training.
“Coaches that I performed for,” Potulny stated, “they’d a plan. They’d an itinerary. I knew what I used to be going to get daily after I obtained there. Consistency. It’s onerous sufficient to be knowledgeable participant. If there are methods for to make different elements of their day easier… these are issues that I at all times actually appreciated from coaches.”
Paddock’s soft-spoken strategy made a rapid impression on Potulny popping out of faculty and offered classes that he’ll take with him to Hartford this fall.
“John, he simply had a extremely great way about him,” Potulny recounted. “He had actually good relationships with our veteran gamers. He was very considerate. When he did [something], you knew that he put a whole lot of thought into it. As a coach, you’ve obtained to make it possible for your voice doesn’t get previous with simply speaking the discuss. John was a grasp at that.
“When he did say one thing, it was very significant.”
And so with all the change that has come by way of Hartford prior to now 10 months, Potulny can convey a few of those self same qualities with him to the Wolf Pack. Undoubtedly this season will convey its personal set of challenges and alternatives, and he’s keen to steer a gaggle of younger gamers studying to regulate to professional hockey’s highs and lows.
Whether or not it’s an early-season run or a late-season playoff push, Potulny has a succinct message for his gamers.
“I’ve a saying: ‘We get to, not we have to.’”
TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams has been on the American Hockey League beat for almost twenty years for shops together with NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey Information, SiriusXM NHL Community Radio and SLAM! Sports activities, and was most lately the co-host of The Hockey Information On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.
