Sutter says Walser ‘the right guy’ to be Rebels head coach
When the opportunity to become a head coach at the major junior hockey level came about, Derrick Walser felt he was fully prepared for the challenge.
“I’ve been pretty patient over the last six years,” Walser said Wednesday after being announced as the Red Deer Rebels new head coach, the eighth in franchise history.
“I wanted to make sure I was ready to do it because you don’t get these jobs every day. You’re going to get one crack at it and I wanted to make sure I was ready.”
Walser, 45, spent the past six years as an assistant coach with the Peterborough Petes, his time with the team culminating in an Ontario Hockey League championship this past season.
The native of New Glasgow, N.S., was on the short list of numerous quality candidates interviewed by Rebels owner, president and general manager Brent Sutter.
“When I had a feeling I was going to get it the excitement came,” said Walser. “Now I’m over the moon and I just want to get going. I have things to figure out with my family and once we get to training camp I’ll be ready to rock and roll and get it going.”
Sutter was impressed with the number and quality of the applicants for the head coaching post, which came available when Steve Konowalchuk resigned in May after two years behind the bench.
“It’s been a really good process with a lot of really good guys for sure,” he said. “There are certain things you want to see in a coach and I just kept coming back to Derrick.
“When you start the process you’re very detailed with it and you have boxes checked off that you want to see in your coach, not just today but hopefully down the road too. I just felt he checked a lot of those areas.
“He’s had success as a player and when he went to Peterborough they were a team in transition and they built it up to be a championship team. He’s a smart young guy, energetic and hard working, and he wants to be successful doing this.
“When it was all said and done I just felt that he’s the right guy at this point in time to be our coach.”
Sutter noted that Walser’s time behind the Petes’ bench will prove invaluable as he transitions into a head coach.
“Being an assistant coach as long as he has he know how to relate to kids, he’s a pretty good communicator,” said Sutter. “But he’s firm too and you need that in a coach. When I was going through the process, I kept coming back to Derrick.”
Walser was the Quebec Major League defenceman of the year with Rimouski in the 1997-98 season, scoring 41 goals and collecting 110 points in 70 games with the Oceanic.
He went on to play 19 seasons of professional hockey, including 91 NHL games with Columbus and stints in the AHL and ECHL as well as overseas in Russia, Switzerland, Germany and Belfast, Ireland, where he served as a player/head coach before retiring following the 2016-17 season.
Walser won numerous all-star awards and championships during his playing career, including the Spengler Cup, AHL Calder Cup, the European Trophy and the German DEL championship.
He admitted he started to really focus on his defensive game once he turned pro.
“I grew up in an era where I tried to just get points. I wanted to be a goal scorer, be an offensive defenceman,” he said. “Then I had to learn the hard way how to play defence.”
Teaching defence was his primary responsibility during his time with the Petes. He was also part of a coaching staff that took pride in moving players on to the next levels.
“You’re trying to teach kids, to have them ready and educated when they’re going to pro hockey,” he said. “They’re going to be ready to hit that type of commitment, away from the puck and with the puck, and that it doesn’t matter if you have 15 goals or 50 goals, it’s about the team.
“That’s my mentality — team first. No matter what role they have, I want them to be the best at that role. If you’re a shut down guy I want you to be a plus player, if you’re a faceoff guy I want you to be the best in the league.
“We’re going to strive for that, to hit that ceiling. There are guys making millions of dollars just being a faceoff guy. You don’t have to be Austin Matthews.”
The Petes have been one of the most successful OHL teams at moving players to the next levels and Walser said the club has also focused on making sure their graduates are ready to tackle the off-ice challenges that come with being a pro.
That’s a goal he will bring to Red Deer.
“You teach these kids the ins and outs they don’t understand. When they go pro the whole thing is making sure they’re mature, that they understand they have to pay their own bills and take care of their own timetable.”
After a half dozen years as part of a solid coaching staff in Peterborough, Walser feels he’s ready to be a bench boss.
“Experience means a lot. Being an assistant coach I learned the small details in the game,” he said. “If you jump into something you can get yourself twisted up and get overwhelmed.
“I did not want to take something that wouldn’t challenge me but I also wanted to make sure I’m prepared. These jobs are tough to get, everyone wants them and when you get one you want to do a good job for the person who hired you, as Brent Sutter did, but for your own success as well.
“Everyone wants to move on and get to better places, coaches and players or people in any other jobs. Everyone has aspirations and this is just the first step in what I hope is a long coaching career.”
Walser and his wife Sara and sons Camden, 14 and Hudson, 16, will visit Red Deer next week and hope to settle in the city next month.
“We’re thrilled that he wants to come to Red Deer and be a part of our program,” said Sutter. “Hopefully he can have success and develop into a top level head coach.”
Sutter is expected to hire an assistant coach later in the summer to replace Ryan Colville after he moved on following the end of his contract last season.
