Post by Toronto Ice Frogs on Jul 21, 2014 11:51:23 GMT -5
TORONTO - Valve Astrarium News Room - July, 2014
ICE FROGS SEE BEGINNING OF A TEAM, INTRODUCING COACHES AND EXPANSION PICKS
Toronto will see a return of NLHS hockey in season 5 with the newly introduced Ice Frogs club, funded by Valve Corp and it's new arena. GM Cedric "Nights" was named the GM for the hockey club, who hasn't been seen by the press until now.
"I wanted to be sure I had something good to announce" said the GM, when asked about why that was. When reminded that a new team is usually good news, he answered "That isn't much of an announcement if you already know about it, now is it?"
Officially introduced at the mid-draft scrum today were the teams official head coaches. Mike Babcock and Todd McLellan will take over coaching duties. Babcock on the Ice Frogs, and McLellan on the affiliate Forgers.
"Both coaches have the same type of game style and that is something we wanted to have - uniformity in our coaching philosophies. Babcock has a better resume so he gets the main team, while McLellan as a rising star remains in our ranks to give our farm team pro-level coaching."
The team revealed it's first 3 selections in the NHLS expansion draft, Max Pacioretty, Mikael Granlund, and Alexander Steen.
"We wanted to focus on more of an offensive, young team, and Pacioretty was the top priority for us to get. He's a great scorer who can hold his own in the offensive zone, who we hope will only improve with time - particularly in the defensive end and his speed.
"Granlund is all about the future. He seems to be poised to make a jump, and as a playmaker first, should complement Pacioretty very well.
"Steen is a bit older then what we might have been targeting, but we felt he was too good to pass up at that point in the draft. We feel he has a lot more to give then what he has shown, and hopefully giving him the spotlight and a new environment can help harness that potential and bring it to reality."
The priorities for the upcoming rounds?
"Obviously, we need a goalie. We'll probably look to keep rounding out the scoring lines and add a few defencemen in order to keep building a strong foundation. We do own 6th overall in the entry draft, that should help add another strong player to our arsenal. Going to be a tough few years to start, but in the end we feel we can bring a championship team back to Toronto."
ICE FROGS SEE BEGINNING OF A TEAM, INTRODUCING COACHES AND EXPANSION PICKS
Toronto will see a return of NLHS hockey in season 5 with the newly introduced Ice Frogs club, funded by Valve Corp and it's new arena. GM Cedric "Nights" was named the GM for the hockey club, who hasn't been seen by the press until now.
"I wanted to be sure I had something good to announce" said the GM, when asked about why that was. When reminded that a new team is usually good news, he answered "That isn't much of an announcement if you already know about it, now is it?"
Officially introduced at the mid-draft scrum today were the teams official head coaches. Mike Babcock and Todd McLellan will take over coaching duties. Babcock on the Ice Frogs, and McLellan on the affiliate Forgers.
"Both coaches have the same type of game style and that is something we wanted to have - uniformity in our coaching philosophies. Babcock has a better resume so he gets the main team, while McLellan as a rising star remains in our ranks to give our farm team pro-level coaching."
The team revealed it's first 3 selections in the NHLS expansion draft, Max Pacioretty, Mikael Granlund, and Alexander Steen.
"We wanted to focus on more of an offensive, young team, and Pacioretty was the top priority for us to get. He's a great scorer who can hold his own in the offensive zone, who we hope will only improve with time - particularly in the defensive end and his speed.
"Granlund is all about the future. He seems to be poised to make a jump, and as a playmaker first, should complement Pacioretty very well.
"Steen is a bit older then what we might have been targeting, but we felt he was too good to pass up at that point in the draft. We feel he has a lot more to give then what he has shown, and hopefully giving him the spotlight and a new environment can help harness that potential and bring it to reality."
The priorities for the upcoming rounds?
"Obviously, we need a goalie. We'll probably look to keep rounding out the scoring lines and add a few defencemen in order to keep building a strong foundation. We do own 6th overall in the entry draft, that should help add another strong player to our arsenal. Going to be a tough few years to start, but in the end we feel we can bring a championship team back to Toronto."