Coach ready to kick the tires
St. John’s IceCaps’ Sylvain Lefebvre says club is young, but well-balanced unit
It’s not exactly a brand-new team that will hit the ice against the Toronto Marlies tonight at the Stephenville Dome.
After all, the St. John’s IceCaps have been around for four American Hockey League seasons. But with a new NHL affiliate in the Montreal Canadiens, new accompanying colours and a 28man training camp roster with just one player — tryout forward Nicolas Blanchard — who was in St. John’s last season, there is definitely a new-car smell to these IceCaps.
Think of this as a 2011 edition overhauled so much and detailed so well that you could be fooled into thinking that it’s come right out of the showroom.
Head coach Sylvain Lefebvre has been the man behind the wheel the last three years, when the Canadiens’ farm team was the Hamilton Bulldogs. With a dozen players from the 2014-15 Bulldogs in Corner Brook as of Wednesday, Lefebvre might not see his team as spanking new, but understands that feeling of freshness around the club.
“It’s kind of the same for us, too. It’s a new environment and we know it’s going to be an exciting environment,” said Lefebvre
“I won’t say it makes it easier, but it will help us in building chemistry.”
That’s important given that more than half the players in camp are newcomers to the organization, most of them raw rookies.
“There’s quite a bit (of youth), especially at the forward position,” said Lefebvre, “but that’s a young group of talent coming in, with guys like (Mike) McCarron and (Nikita) Scherbak, and even someone like (Daniel) Carr, who put up good numbers last year, but is just a second-year guy who we’re expecting to take off where he left off.
“But we also have some good veterans either that we resigned or brought in — ( free-agent signee Bud) Holloway and (returning captain Gabriel) Dumont, who has been with us four or five years.
“So we have fresh young legs coming in, with some good veteran leadership to balance it.”
Tonight’s game in Stephenville is the first of three against the Marlies in a series known as the Coleman Cup. The teams hook again Friday night in Corner Brook and Sunday afternoon in Gander.
While it’s a chance for top prospects and returning regulars to solidify spots, Lefebvre also mentioned players who might be seen as being on a the fringes of a potential season-starting roster.
“We feel that for the past three or four years, the talent and speed we’re looking for is springing up. But we also have players looking to make a name for themselves and sometimes its better that way,” said Lefebvre.
“You have Tim Bozon (under contract) coming in and someone like Markus Eisenschmid, who’s trying out for us.
“There are guys we have to make decisions on and these three exhibition games are very important for some of these players fighting to get a contract or even fighting for a spot on the roster.”