Raftis expects return to past form
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media)
When the Soo Greyhounds begin their portion of the OHL regular season on Friday, league followers apparently aren’t expecting a lot.
Preseason OHL Power Rankings, assembled by league media members and released on the OHL website on Monday, have the Hounds ranked 14th among 20 teams.
But winger Jordan D’Intino, whose club entertains Flint at 7:07 p.m., isn’t buying any of it.
“We plan to take the league by surprise,” the overage said in a recent conversation. “People probably don’t think we’ll be as good as we think we’re going to be and that’s alright. We’re ready to show everybody.”
Being ranked so low “doesn’t mean anything to us,” added defenceman Andrew Gibson.
General manager Kyle Raftis agrees, beginning his comments with a number of references to the past “standard” the team had set for itself.
A season ago, the rebuilding Hounds battled through a spate of injuries and finished out of the playoffs with a 20-33-9-6 record. Between overtime and shootouts, they lost 15 times.
However, in the eight previous seasons (2020-21 was lost to COVID-19), the Soo has finished with a combined 346-148-31-15 record, good for four West Division titles, one second-place finish and a couple of third-place showings.
The GM helped craft teams that played with a swagger, did the little things well and expected to achieve success.
“For us, it’s about getting back to our standard,” Raftis said. “Last year, there was so much focus on where our young guys would take a step to. Once the injuries kicked in, we lost a little bit of our standards in terms of what the expectation was going to be. A lot of it was us looking too far down the road.”
Forward Owen Allard missed most of the season while Gibson and goalie Charlie Schenkel were sidelined for more than 20 games each.
Now, the GM continued, the Soo’s plan is to “make sure that standard is there every day. And from Day 1 of training camp, the coaching staff and players have responded to that.”
Head coach John Dean has talked to his players about the importance of positive daily habits, both on and off the ice.
So, can the Hounds return to a position where they’re making serious noise in both the West Division and Western Conference?
“If we can get back to that standard consistently, I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year,” Raftis said. “That’s our expectation. I think a lot of people are going to count us out of it. But there’s a lot of good faith in our room. We have to put the work in, but our expectation is to return to our standard.”
Asked what improvements the 2023-24 Hounds need to make, the GM began with special teams, saying they have to take a step forward.
A year ago, the Soo finished 14th in the OHL in power-play efficiency and 10th in penalty-killing.
With a young lineup, finishing scoring chances was often a challenge. Only three teams scored fewer than the Greyhounds total of 223 goals.
“In tight games, we kind of became a team that almost expected things not to go our way,” Raftis said. “There wasn’t that swagger that says: ‘Alright, it’s overtime, we’re going to end this game.’ We had a lot of games where we left points on the board. We have to get that swagger back where we’re ending games.”
Captain Bryce McConnell-Barker, entering his fourth OHL season, is the team’s offensive leader. A year ago, the New York Rangers prospect notched 30 goals to go along with 47 assists in 68 games. The Hounds are expecting the 19-year-old (2004 birth year) centre to continue his progression.
Many of their top forwards are, of course, also a year older and the club anticipates that to boost the offence.
“Defensively, we have to tighten up a lot of things,” Raftis admitted. “There were nights where we gave up a lot of shots and a lot of good scoring chances. We also took too many undisciplined penalties.”
Today, with Kirill Kudryavtsev, a healthy Gibson and the addition of Viala, Finland, native Arttu Karki, taken seventh overall in the 2023 CHL Import Draft, the GM is feeling more confident about his blue-line.
“Offensively, Arttu is super gifted. He’s got a great shot and you can see the size and the skating. I think with Kirill, Karki and Gibson, it gives us a great starting three,” Raftis said. “Two on the left side and one on the right. I’d put all three of those guys up against anybody in this league.”