Sutter: Positives to take from inconsistent season
By DANNY RODE
The 2023-24 WHL season seemed extra long for Red Deer Rebels Owner, President, General Manager Brent Sutter.
“The longest I’ve had in hockey on the managing side of it,” said Sutter while sitting down to rehash the past season, explaining that changing head coaches along with the “inconsistency of our team … the inconsistency of certain individuals” made for a longer grind.
But he noted, importantly, that the season featured plenty of positives.
“The development of some players was very encouraging … some took a step in the right direction for sure. Now we need all of them to take a step up next year.”
Sutter had nothing but good to say about Dave Struch, brought aboard as Interim Head Coach March 1. Struch took over from Derrick Walser, hired last July after Steve Konowalchuk moved on after the 2022-23 season to be closer to family.
“We didn’t start the season well. We started playing better in late November. I thought we got better in December and got our feet back under us in January. The month of January we were pretty good, winning nine games (with a 9-0-2 record), but then we fell down the cliff in February,” Sutter said about feeling the need for the coaching change.
“It wasn’t just our record, it was our individual play, our team play, and our practice habits weren’t good. The playoffs were just three and a half weeks away and unfortunately. I had to make a change.”
The Rebels announced last week that Struch is returning as the club’s full-time head coach for 2024-25.
“It was a small sample of eight or nine weeks, but just the way he put everything together, the way he used his staff, which is the way I expect the staff to be together and run the way a staff should be run.
“I liked the way we practiced, the details were very good, and the team was well prepared. We became a hard team to play against. That’s our model.
“I thought Strucher came in and did a great job … the staff did a great job of implementing that stuff.”
Struch had previous head coaching stints with the Saskatoon Blades and Regina Pats, both times during rebuilds following recent trips to the Memorial Cup.
“Then there were two years of COVID, so he was in tough spots. This (Red Deer) truly was an opportunity to coach, and he will say it, a team with a lot more talent, outside of (Regina’s Connor) Bedard. A team that can compete and challenge every night. He worked hard at it.”
Sutter met recently with the entire coaching staff, all of whom will also be back next season, along with the players. Unanimously, they wanted Struch back.
With Struch in place for the entire off-season, Sutter expects things will go much smoother.
“Last year we didn’t get Derrick until July. With Strucher here, he’s already reached out to the players, the staff is already together and decided how to handle this summer and make sure the players will be on top of their game coming into the season … doing everything right.”
The Rebels played well under Struch’s guidance, beating Medicine Hat Tigers 4-1 in the opening round of playoffs. The club was competitive in the first two games of round two versus the top-ranked Saskatoon Blades before the injury bug stepped in.
Having already lost Rhett Stoesser to a broken finger suffered in practice before the start of the series, the Rebels lost starting netminder Chase Wutzke after he was run over during a brilliant 46-save performance in game two.
Next man up was Taylor Tabashniuk, the top goalie in the Saskatchewan U18 AAA circuit with the Regina Pat Canadians, who battled hard in an incredibly difficult situation.
“It was tough on a 16-year-old who never played a league game,” suggested Sutter.
“He can’t get caught up in the number of goals scored against him. He was in over his head at the time. Everybody in the building could see it. We also had to bring in Shorsy (Peyton Shore) from Winnipeg, which meant we had 15-and-16-year-old goalies against the best team in the league.”
As disappointing as the injuries were, Sutter still felt the players could have done more to support their young netminder.
“But then it’s tough on players as they get deflated too when those things happen,” he acknowledged.
Looking ahead, Sutter likes the way his club is shaping up for 2024-25.
“We have a good core group coming back. Salt of the earth kids, kids who feel deeply about putting the Rebels jersey on, care deeply about playing here in Red Deer and playing in front of great fans.”
The Rebels have several “good young players” set to join a solid veteran core, including defenceman Luke Vlooswyk.
“He played really well for us,” said Sutter of the club’s first-round pick from 2022. “The great thing about him is how mature he is for his age (17). He’s a tremendous mature you man … well spoken, great leadership skills. He was outstanding for us now when he gets back, he needs to carry on and build on what he did this year.”
Sutter liked what he saw from rookies Jeremiah Roberts, Matthew Gard and import Samuel Drancak.
“When Roberts got hurt, he was playing extremely well. I hope this summer is good for him and he can recover as he’s a really good player. Gard made some big steps this year… he has the size just needs to get stronger.
“Drancak can skate, is smart and is a good two-way player. There were some inconsistencies, but everything was new to him this year. But he went through it, and he’ll be better for it next year.”
Sutter also praised centre Ollie Josephson, entering his third year with the Rebels, and Wutzke, who’s heading into his second. Both are sure to hear their names called at this summer’s NHL Draft in Las Vegas.
“Our 16-year-olds were a good group, and the 17-year-olds will be a year older, as will the 18-year-olds. We should also have a solid group of 20s.
“We also have a good young group of kids coming in who had good seasons. We usually add five or six each year who will fill in nicely,” Sutter added, alluding to the likes of Beckett Hamilton, Jake Missura and Steven Steranka who made late-season cameos with the club.
The Rebels boss had high praise for the team’s loyal fanbase through this year’s ups and downs.
“From an organizational standpoint we really appreciate the support we received from our fans in central Alberta. It helps so much when you receive that support. We can’t thank them enough.”
The Rebels are focused this week on a pair of drafts – the U.S. Priority Draft on Wednesday followed by the Prospects Draft Thursday.