Petes not hitting panic button
Veteran head coach Jody Hull’s job is safe; Petes will look to upgrade roster before Jan. 10 trade deadline
The Peterborough Petes aren’t happy about where they sit at the OHL’s midway point but don’t expect any panic moves, says president Dave Pogue.
The club’s board of directors met with staff on Tuesday night to assess where the team is at and its direction for the second half. Pogue says the board dissected with staff the factors in their recent struggles and all the possible options to address it.
“We have concerns because we are not meeting expectations but we don’t have all-out panic,” Pogue said.
When a team is not meeting expectations the first person to come under fire is often the coach.
“People are asking today are you firing your coach? We are not firing our coach,” Pogue said.
“We are nowhere near our expectations. We are disappointed but we also feel we have the time and the people to put us back where we thought we were going to be,” Pogue said.
Coming off their best season in 11 years the Petes expected to contend for an Eastern Conference title again. They sat in first place a month into the season at 8-2. A rash of injuries hit and the club has gone 7-15-1-1 since then sliding to seventh place.
Pogue said injuries are one factor but there are others. He said GM Mike Oke is in charge of the hockey operations decisions and he presented his analysis to the board on Tuesday.
Pogue said they emerged from the meeting with the belief this group of staff and players is capable of getting things turned around and will be given that opportunity. At the same time, Pogue said Oke is working to try to upgrade the team between now and the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
“As a fan it might appear nothing is being done or we’re not concerned but you have to make sure you know what the answers are before you go making any type of change,” Pogue said.
“There are a number of factors I believe playing into our inconsistency and not meeting expectations at this point. If it was just one factor we’d be dealing with it right now but I think it’s a combination of a few factors. What we have to do is zero in and do our analysis, which we are doing right now, and assessing everything to determine where we come out.”
Pogue said the number of injuries and the quality of players injured has made it difficult on the coaches and it also makes id hard to assess exactly what they have. With everyone expected back following the break except for Declan Chisholm, who has a high ankle sprain, Pogue expects the picture to become clearer leading up to the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
There is a feeling players have gotten away from the team system because they are trying to do too much themselves to be a difference maker or to compensate for players who are out of the lineup. It not only fatigues players they end up making mistakes because they are complicating the game. It’s led to frustration for both players and staff.
So Pogue said the organization is using the holiday break as a reset.
“We have to let everybody reset and see what we get coming out of the break,” Pogue said.
“We still think we can make a run. We have a lot of faith in this group. We have work to do and we’ve dug ourselves a bit of a hole. First place is a bit distant but we’re not going to worry about concentrating on first place. We want to put ourselves in the best possible playoff position we can. We want to worry about climbing back.”
With 26 of their last 34 games within their conference, and their toughest games against the Western Conference out of the way, Pogue says there is opportunity to be had.
“As quickly as we fell from one to seven we think we can make some of that up quickly if we string a few wins together.”
Pogue understands some fans may want more drastic action.
“Our fans get passionate and concerned when things aren’t going well and we like that,” he said.