There’s nothing better than covering the WHL playoffs. Saturday’s overtime game between the Kelowna Rockets and Victoria Royals — which Kelowna won 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round series — might have been the best game I’ve had the privilege of watching live since I moved to the Okanagan in August 2008 to pursue my dream job: becoming an NHL beat writer.
One of the best parts of my current job is interacting with future NHL players, like Leon Draisaitl, the third overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft who once had a cup of coffee with the Oilers Edmonton to start this season before being reassigned to junior. ranks and, subsequently, traded to the Rockets in January.
I’ve gotten to know Léon over the last three months and he is a consummate pro, mature well beyond his 19 years, both in the way he plays and in his interactions with the media. He has definitely been a man among boys on the ice since his return to the WHL.
An Edmonton Oilers fan watches Leon Draisaitl get around Josh Thrower of the Vancouver Giants in his debut for the Kelowna Rockets, a 4-2 victory at Prospera Place on January 7.
In the dozen or so interviews I’ve conducted with Draisaitl, we mostly talk about WHL stuff for my “day-to-day” job. Every now and then we talk about the Oilers – on and off the record – and I decided to share with the THW audience a few excerpts from our last conversation before Saturday’s aforementioned Game 2.
We talked about how Edmonton’s season ended that same night – a 6-5 overtime loss to Vancouver – and how lucky he was to be in the middle of a playoff series with the Rockets, that you can read here.
We also discussed his potential future in the Alberta capital and where he might fit on the depth chart next season as well as in the long term. Draisaitl has kept a close eye on the Oilers since being sent down following a 37-game stint, and is well aware that pending unrestricted free agent Derek Roy has fit himself into the mix moving forward. The Oilers acquired Roy from the Nashville Predators in what appeared to be a minor trade for Mark Arcobello, but Roy’s instant chemistry with 2012 first overall pick Nail Yakupov landed Edmonton general manager Craig MacTavish , to consider a contract offer before the next 32nd birthday. -years arriving on the open market on July 1st.
“He played really well for the Oilers and that’s good, that’s what they needed,” Draisaitl said of Roy. “If they sign him, I’m going to have to fight for my place anyway. I don’t worry too much about who they sign or what they don’t do, it’s up to me – how I play.
Derek Roy might be Leon Draisaitl’s biggest challenger to becoming a second-line center for the Edmonton Oilers next season, but Draisaitl has kept his attention on the task at hand, helping the Kelowna Rockets in their quest for the Cup Ed Chynoweth.
Before Roy’s emergence in Edmonton, many viewed Draisaitl, a playmaker, as the perfect center for Yakupov, a shooter. They were paired only briefly under the firing of Dallas Eakins and Draisaitl was demoted shortly after Todd Nelson took the coaching reins. Nelson revived Edmonton’s offense, including its anemic-turned-potent power play, and got Yakupov back on track.
“He’s a shooter, he likes to shoot the puck, he’s quick and easy to find,” Draisaitl said of Yakupov. “I played with him for a little while and I think it went well. Obviously, we’re both young and it’s difficult in this league to be productive when you’re very young and don’t have a lot of experience.
Nail Yakupov, seen here leaning into a shot, could be the target of Leon Draisaitl’s passes in the not too distant future and they could form a dynamic duo.
This combination will surely be tried again in the future, no matter what Edmonton picks in next June’s NHL Draft. Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, both centers, are the consensus No. 1 and 2 picks, respectively, and McDavid’s teammate Dylan Strome — the younger brother of New York Islanders center Ryan Strome — is another center. interest which put forward strong arguments. to finish third overall.
Changing topics, I also enjoyed reflecting on Royals coach Dave Lowry, who spent nearly two decades in the NHL as a player, most notably finishing his career with the Calgary Flames during their improbable run to the Stanley Cup final in 2004.
A little over a decade later, Lowry’s son Adam is about to embark on his first NHL playoff experience as a rookie forward for the Winnipeg Jets. He was not expected to qualify for training camp, but he ultimately played in 80 of Winnipeg’s 82 games and posted a respectable stat line of 11 goals, 23 points, 46 penalty minutes and a plus-1 differential while recording difficult games. minutes in a controlling role. Adam may have more offensive upside than his father — he was the WHL’s most valuable player just two seasons ago with the Swift Current Broncos — but he’s proving to be a small piece of the old block in terms of work ethic and determination.
“You spend a year in the American Hockey League and you go to a long playoff run like they did (with the St. John’s IceCaps), losing in the final, you gain valuable experience,” said Lowry on his son’s rise, which was aided greatly by Jets coach Paul Maurice, who took over from Claude Noël in Winnipeg midway through last season.
Adam Lowry is following in his father Dave’s footsteps as an NHL player and will make his playoff debut with the Winnipeg Jets this week when they take on the Anaheim Ducks.
Maurice could be a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL’s top coach this season, but he insists he didn’t do anything special in Manitoba, according to the elder Lowry.
“With Paul, what’s interesting is he says he timed it perfectly,” Lowry said. “He came into play when the team was in a position where they felt like they were going to turn a corner.
“You have to look from day one and that really helped him last season when he came in at the end of the year, he kind of put his stamp on what the term would be. . . . The workouts were going to be tougher and there was going to be more focus on the fitness aspect, and training camp was going to be tough. He kept his word, but what he did was he allowed this group to run the room and own the room and he just guided them.
Great idea that the average person wouldn’t know about either, not without these connections made over time in the hockey world – which, as they say, is truly a small world.
Larry Fisher is a sports reporter for the Daily Courier in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Follow him on Twitter: @LarryFisher_KDC.
