Head Coach Jeremy Colliton Year End Press Conference

Hi Jeremy, thanks for doing this. I wanted to ask you about the Archd bands. You use them a lot in the playoffs and I just want to talk to you about their progression since the beginning of the

year

. What are some things you saw that can grow? as a player who maybe wasn't there at the beginning of the

year

with you, yeah, like you said, we gave him a lot of responsibility as the year went on and certainly in the playoffs, but he earned it, you know his development throughout the whole year. process. the year and I thought, obviously, you know the defensive game away from the puck, but like the wall game board battles, um, finding ways to advance the puck, uh, you know, imagine the puck through the neutral zone, he's a, he's a skilled player, an offensive player, um, you know. used to making plays at the level that he was playing at before, but learning how to do that will also be reliable, you know where Spock plays and you find that you know when you're playing against good players, you know, forcing them to do it. defending and finding ways to play in the offensive zone, that's how you win and you know he made great strides there, his ear followed and obviously a year in Special Teams spots, power play too low and just killed, huh , he turned. one of our you know, top four, front four that we predominantly used, he was one of them on the penalty kill and then the power play, obviously, he was, we used him a lot there as well, so you know, it's really well first. year for him and now it's up to him to take advantage of how much of that growth he attributes to the development staff, yeah we have a great group, I think that's part of, I think we're a team too, right where we want to have really good people come here , whether it's the Sadines or, you know, Mackenzie Braid, you know it's a really good group and we all work together, sometimes with different voices or sharing. the load and, uh, it's along with the

coach

ing staff, it's a fun place to come to work and I think the players, uh, you know, they enjoy it too, we'll go along with Patrick Johnson, we'll post the media, hey, Jeremy, In a similar vein, um, what did he do?

You see with Niels Hoaglander, you know, that player we saw in the playoffs was pretty im

press

ive, yeah, he had a great half-season, you know, here he went down and it's always a shock to the system and certainly you know. He had played a lot of NHL games without playing an American League game and I think it was an adjustment for him, but you have to give him credit, I thought he really put in the effort and was willing to take feedback and I mean, you see. You know, his play in the playoffs was a big step for him, how hard he played and in my opinion that game will carry over to the NHL level and obviously you know there were some penalties there in the last series but uh , at the same time, you know, I thought he was on the line, as far as his physical game and competitiveness, and I'd rather have a player, I'd rather have to pull the reins on a player like that than try. have to call him, I think you can win with guys like that.

Patrick had told us at one point that you knew more than anything that Niels needed to find some confidence again in this game, but you know you mentioned that. There were specific things to work on, what were the things that you think had the biggest impact in terms of how he improved and how he was such an influential player in the end. Yeah, I think just managing the game by understanding certain situations where you can attack, you try to create something in a hurry, you make something happen and then there are moments where you just have to dig deep and that's part of knowing that you have maturity as a player. and that sometimes you just have to walk away and, uh. you know, change, let the next group put the next group in a better place and I think he definitely made big steps there and you know, also the defensive awareness, as I thought, this year continued, he really did a good job of being locked down. in um understanding is his role understanding his responsibilities away from the puck when it came time to defend and uh it was nice to see go to Chris Faber's side Canucks Army hey Jeremy uh I think as reporters we watch a lot of games.

We watch your team play a lot, but one thing I can honestly say I don't understand much is goaltending, so I'm curious what you think and what you saw from Marco Terenius this year working with the goalkeepers and what that relationship was like between him and The two or three goalies that you had this year, yeah, Marker did a great job, you know, it's kind of the task in the American League is that you have turnovers and obviously it's in all positions. but you know, you think when you deal with goalies it's a lot about building the relationship and the trust so that you can get the feedback that they need and I thought Marco did a great job there and I thought Our guys really improved as the year went on and they played with confidence and I thought, you know, from the first half to the second half, the performance of our goalkeepers was a big improvement and I think it deserves a lot. credit for that, so it was, you know, he also liked coming, you know a different culture, a different work environment compared to where he had been before, although the United States did a great job adapting and, you know, deserves a lot of credit and how did he do it?

Your relationship with Neelyovich grew throughout the year because I felt like there was a lot more progression in his game this season than last year, so I'm curious to get your take on how that relationship grew this season and I guess how much. This guy has more work to do before he becomes a nhler player yeah well you know he's still a young kid and it's a tough league game and I think he's underrated you know what a challenge it is for young players to have success. Here and obviously as a

coach

you're just trying to build trust and build relationships and obviously I think the language has improved a lot so it's a lot easier to communicate, you felt like his ear went off. in it he was able to better understand what we were asking him and obviously you know a lot of one-on-one meetings and showing clips and things and um, I think that's not really, it's not a hindrance anymore, which is, uh, I think. really important and it's a great year for him.

I think you know he said he said two years probation and you have to understand the standard that's expected and you know I'm excited to see how he responds to that challenge but uh. you know, obviously, you know he's not there yet, but look if you look at the start of the year so far, he's certainly made big strides and that's exciting, Chris, go a

head

, okay, let's go again, um, yeah, I think which will be interesting next year. Also, you've talked about it a lot throughout the season about how many changes you can have at the AHL level, but I mean, if there aren't a ton of injuries at the NHL level, you should have a pretty solid group of young players.

For next year, how good will that be for development if it's the same type of youth group with the addition of, you know, a cold MC Ward Aiden McDonough? These God players handle all the experience you can have for a while. More time next season, how important is that for development if you keep these young players together from the beginning of the season and know how to spend some real time with them. Yeah, I mean, it was exciting to have the guys back because you can uh. It's helpful to know that you know the details and the culture and the mentality that you want on your team so that it takes hold a little bit quicker and that's what I'm looking forward to and obviously we have a group of guys that are going to make it to the field. training trying to get to the Canucks and that's their focus, do everything they can to make it a really competitive field, but no matter who we get, we should have quite a few players coming back and that's a great deal, you know, we're going to having, I hope, more rookies, more young guys and I think again it's about getting back to the quality of the league, like it's going to take time, like it's not.

I'd be surprised if these guys came. and they're immediately ready to take over the league like it doesn't happen very often, but that's also an exciting challenge to help them adapt at least as quickly as possible and learn what it takes to be a pro and make an impact. at our level and then improve as the year goes on and hopefully get back to having a great team, but we don't, we can't just pick up where you left off in a lot of ways. start over and I think it's important to not take that for granted there's a lot of work to do and you know the messages now start with how we train in the off season and that will be uh that message will be delivered for sure.

I just wanted to continue with another one with our sheep. We saw a lot of progression in his game and I know you guys have talked about analyzing his game at the beginning of the season. and have him change it with those thoughts of, you know, working on his strengths but also working on some different things that he's going to have to do at the next level. Do you see him as a guy who will be a challenge for NHL minutes next year? I don't know, I mean, I think he took the step this year, you know he came in and out at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year he's one of their most important players, so part of that is, uh, kind of .

Summer he's having with his training and he continues to improve his skating, but you know, I think the challenge for him is to come to camp and show where he is and be on the radar as far as getting NHL games, but he absolutely made great strides. , so again, he doesn't, you can't pick up where he left off, you have to start almost from scratch and that will start at camp, but it'll be how he prepares, uh. Also in the summer of this training we have a couple more follow-ups here. I'll go to Patrick Johnson first for media posting.

Jeremy is not the first time he has coached the AHL. I'm just curious how this experience was for you in comparison. For your year in Rockford, what you learned as a coach, maybe yes, well, I mean, I have more experience, which is always helpful, obviously, we went to the

conference

finals, that year and, you know, this year. We didn't get there, but I also thought this division that we played in was outstanding, I mean, extremely competitive, you know, some of the top teams, um, even Colorado, Ontario, Bakersfield, they're really great for development. Our young players are going to play so many games against that quality of competition so I thought we'd benefit from that this year and our players will also have the downside of that is you're going to get some pretty tough draws come playoff time and So, you know , I think it's disappointing, you know, not being able to advance, because I think knowing that another five, six, ten games, playoff games for this group would have been extremely valuable, but, you know, having that test against Calgary here and I thought it was a great series, a tight series that we need.

We'll take some lessons from that. You mentioned how you know you're evaluating and developing players. How can you evaluate yourself as a coach? it's something that you're doing as a continuous thing uh well, I'm trying to improve all the time that's for sure uh and that's actually things that you know, things that you do during meetings, you ask for feedback from the players and uh, they often have some pretty good ideas or thoughts about the things they like, I think the things they didn't like and I think the weeks after the season are a good time to look at what you did during the season and how it can be improved and maybe propose some new ideas, whether it's from other teams or watching the NHL playoffs, you know, obviously we have the Vancouver staff, who was the resource for us, so I think we're not getting better, you're getting worse, especially as a coach because the game is constantly changing, and it seems like we only have one more right now from David Quadrelli again.

Canucks Army Jeremy. I want to talk to you about Irish again, how much? of their development this year just came down to the acceptance of the players and their commitment to growing, yeah well I think probably every player has a big impact on how much improvement they can have during the year and I think a lot It's just being open to the feedback that you get and then responding to it and, I mean, he was very open to it and you could see the adjustments that he was making, game by game, shift by shift and I think.

That probably comes down to his hockey IQ. A very intelligent player understands the game and therefore can take the feedback that he receives and respond to it immediately, which speeds up the process, so you know that is encouraging for his future. You know, we all hope he can become a Canuck and play in the NHL for a long time.