Youthful Marlies ‘all-in’ on development
Two hundred and fifty-four. That’s how many steps separate the Toronto Marlies from the big-league Maple Leafs.
Steve Spott knows this, because he counted the paces from his office to Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle’s at the teams’ practice facility.
That’s the kind of attention to detail he brings to his job as the new head coach of the American Hockey League’s Marlies from his days as an elementary schoolteacher.
“That must be my teaching background,” Spott said. “There’ll be no balls dropped here . . . I pride myself in details. For me, it’s knowing just how far away the Leafs are from these players. Those 254 paces are miles because of the fact that, as close as it is, it’s still extremely far away and the boys have a lot of work to do before they get there.”
The number 254 will be prominently displayed in the Marlies dressing room at Ricoh Coliseum, where Spott will have 20- plus new pupils after Edmonton Oilers coa
The Marlies are tr 2013-14 after an exod off-season. Gone are W Connolly (32), capt (28), Mike Mottau (35 Mike Zigomanis (32). chart are Tyler Biggs ( Josh Leivo (20), Andr Stuart Percy (20) and all of whom played f with the Marlies last s
“You’re going to see look to our club this y
Spott fits seamless makeover with his h
r taking over for new ach Dallas Eakins. rending younger for dus of veterans in the Will Acton (26), Tim tain Ryan Hamilton 5), Greg Scott (25) and . Moving up the depth (20), David Broll (20), rew MacWilliam (23), d Garret Sparks (20) — fewer than 10 games season. e more of a youthful year,” Spott said. sly into the Marlies’ history of developing prospects into pros. He spent the past five seasons as head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers, where he helped young stars such as Jeff Skinner and Gabriel Landeskog jump straight to the NHL from junior as 18-year-olds. Others, including Ryan Murphy and Radek Faksa, have become first-round NHL draft picks or highly touted prospects.
“Our decision to replace (Eakins) with Steve fits the development piece of it,” said Dave Poulin, Toronto’s vice-president of hockey operations.
With the injection of youth into the Marlies, particularly up front, management brought back Drew MacIntyre, the oldest player on the team at 30. He shone last season, posting a 13-5-3 record, 1.83 goalsagainst average and .931 save percentage.
“We are going to make some mistakes and we’re going to need Drew to be there to mop up some of the messes,” Spott said.
Under Eakins, the Marlies finished second in the Western Conference each of his past two seasons, reaching the Calder Cup final in 2012. With the team in transition, Toronto brass is tempering expectations.
“I don’t think you can quantify (this season) in terms of wins and losses, because we’re all-in on the development side,” Poulin said. “. . . If we continue to develop players and continue to push the players at each position and push up through the system, then it’ll be a successful year.”