67’S PLAN TO MAKE MOST OF CLUB’S ‘FRESH START’
New management and coaching staff felt roster too good to implement total rebuild
When Travis Barron is asked about all the changes with the Ottawa 67’s, the first thing that comes to mind is his first bus trip with the team back in September 2014.
Back then, Barron was a wideeyed 16-year-old, a first-round draft pick from Belfountain, Ont.
From his captain’s chair at the very back of the 67’s Silver Eagle, Barron is well aware the only survivors from that first bus trip he will see in 2017-18 are head equipment manager Chris Hamilton, 67’s Team 1200 play-byplay man Kenny Walls and goalie Leo Lazarev.
“It’s a fresh start for everybody, me included,” said Barron, who just turned 19 and shed 20 pounds this summer to get ready for his fourth season with the 67’s. “A lot of guys are looking forward to a fresh start.”
The fresh start for the club’s 51st season begins with new management and a new coaching staff, with Jeff Brown out as head coach and GM, replaced by Andre Tourigny as head coach and vice-president of hockey operations and James Boyd as GM.
Several players didn’t quite take to Brown’s abrupt and brutally honest style of coaching, but Barron said he and the former head coach had one final phone call just after Brown stepped down following the Ontario Hockey League draft. Now it’s time to turn the page. “It got a little emotional,” Barron said. “Really, Brownie had coached me since I was 10 playing summer hockey and I grew up with (Brown’s son) Logan, so we went way back.
“But maybe it’s nice to get a new face in here.”
That face is Tourigny, over from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Halifax Mooseheads with an impressive resume and a big job to do — especially considering in Barron’s three seasons with the 67’s, the team has won all of five playoff games.
Such a massive overhaul in management and coaching usually signals a total rebuild of the roster, too.
The 67’s don’t think this lineup merits it, not when the training camp roster includes almost 20 players who have worn a 67’s jersey.
Potential overage defenceman Ryan Orban notified the team he will be pursuing a different direction in hockey. Potential overage forward Artur Tyanulin has signed an American Hockey League tryout contract, meaning the 67’s will wait and see about his availability.
Training camp opened Tuesday night at Otto’s Club in the south stands at TD Place with a “Coaching to Connect” introductory session with both parents and players followed by a dinner at the club.
The 46 players hit the ice at the University of Ottawa’s Minto Sports Complex Wednesday in split squads and played three Red versus White games. By 8:30 a.m. Friday, players were reporting to TD Place, at least 15 of them for dreaded exit interviews with the coaching staff. The 67’s open the pre-season Sunday in Kingston.
Tourigny expects to keep 25 or 26 around for an extended go, especially while veterans Sasha Chmelevski, Noel Hoefenmayer and Barron go off to NHL rookie camps.
Once those three return, Tourigny and company will likely have a half dozen more cuts to make before the 67’s kick off their 50th anniversary season.
“Any time there’s a coaching change, it’s not like it’s just a change,” Chmelevski said. “This is a big deal and it seems like everything is going in the right direction.
“And this is not a rebuild here. I know we’re still a younger team. But this is a young team with a lot of experience.”
Starting in net, the club was likely banking on a tandem of veteran Olivier Lafreniere and a youngster, possibly Orléans native Cedrick Andree. That was until overager Lazarev decided last weekend that he wanted to come back.
That leave one goalie a likely trade chip.
On defence, the heralded trio of 16-year-olds of a season ago — Peter Stratis, 229-pound Kevin Bahl and Carter Robertson — are expected to be that much better, especially having been thrown into the fire with significant minutes as rookies.
Third-year 67’s player Hoefenmayer is the old man on the blue line at 18. The Arizona Coyotes draft pick is expected to anchor the unit and the power play and has been flying through the scrimmages.
“It’s exciting to see what the future holds,” Hoefenmayer said. “It would be nice to get this franchise back to its winning ways with a packed rink.
“It’s already started. Four hours into camp, after the introductory meeting, you could see it. Everyone here is committed to making us better.”
The front-liners include Pembroke’s Tye Felhaber and Austen Keating, with big things expected from Kody Clark, Samuel Bitten and this year’s No. 1 pick Graeme Clarke.
“I want us to be relentless,” Tourigny said. “I want them to bring their ‘A’ game to camp, then it’s our job to create an identity and a culture.
“I don’t want to blow up what we have. This is our 50th anniversary season and we want to do it right.”
This is not a rebuild here. I know we’re still a younger team. But this is a young team with a lot of experience