The Wenatchee Wild are preparing for their inaugural season in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Kevin Constantine will be leading the team in their inaugural season in Wenatchee and he brings with him a wealth of experience. It was clear that General Manager Bliss Littler brought him on for that reason. Littler said that he thought Constantine checked a whole bunch of boxes. Littler said that Constantine has always been able to make players better and has a reputation for making young players into good young adults.
“He’s coached at a level that the players want to get to in the National Hockey League,” Littler said. “He’s had a whole bunch of success in the Western Hockey League. He’s also spent a lot of time in Europe, another place players want to go. But I think Kevin’s looked at as one of the best hockey teachers on the planet. I think he’s an incredible teacher and I think he’s also known as somebody that gets the most out of his players.”
During his WHL tenure, Constantine spent time with the Everett Silvertips, where he guided them to the US Division title in their first season. During that time, he also coached them to the best record for a first-year team in the major junior ranks.
“Great to be back in the league, love the city, and organization has been awesome to work for, really helpful,” Constantine said.
Constantine said that he hasn’t had too much time to explore the area as they’re all getting settled in and preparing for the season, but likes what he’s seen so far.
When it comes to putting together the on-ice product, Littler said that right now it’s all about creating the team’s identity and what the culture is going to be.
“It’s not very often that you have a full roster, you have a 50-player protected list of the transfers and you bring in a whole new staff,” Littler said. “So, initially early on it’s going to be for Kevin to set the tone in the room and create the culture with what he’s looking for there.”
Littler said it’s about figuring out how to put the puzzle together with the players that return from last year’s roster and then those that will be returning from NHL camps prior to the preseason. He said that it’s also about how you fit in future players who aren’t ready for this level yet.
When it comes to putting the roster together he said that it comes down to what you’re looking for and depends on the position. That could include a big-draw right winger who could drive the net or someone such as a crafty centerman.
“I think you’re looking for someone to come in and definitely will have an impact, but will play a role that we’re looking for,” Littler said.
Constantine said that while Littler and his recruiting staff takes care of the majority of assembling the team, he wants players that’ll be warriors on the ice and gentlemen on the ice. He wants them to be a high character person.
Littler said that associate head coach Chris Clark will also serve as Assistant General Manager this season and will help with a lot of the decision-making.
“His input is very very valuable,” Littler said of Clark.
Constantine touched on how Clark and his staff had a lot of success in the BCHL before the franchise shifted to the WHL.
“So, I think we start with an organization and culture that’s already had a lot of success in hockey,” Constantine said. “That’s one of the three components. The second is, this team was successful so this team is bringing their own learning experience, identity, talent, of course James Patrick was a huge part of that putting all of that together. So there are things the remaining players from the Winnipeg team is bringing here and then I just hope I can add something to that myself, just my experiences in the game added in, my knowledge of the Western Hockey League or at least coaching at this level. I hope I have something to add to that mix too. So I think it’s kind of three different things trying to come together.”
One key thing that the Wild have going for them this season is their talent and the returning players from the Winnipeg team. This includes Conor Geekie, Matthew Savoie, Zach Benson and others. Those key players and others helped lead the team to the most points in the WHL last season and even to the point of making the WHL Final out of the Eastern Conference. The team then known as the Winnipeg ICE eventually fell to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL Championship series. But the team also has newcomers with all of the players that aged out after last season.
Littler explained how they’re trying to figure out where all the pieces fit with how the last management group went for it last season, which has the roster a little top heavy.
“So, we know that we have some work to do at developing some younger players,” Littler said.
Constantine is hoping that the team’s experience, success and talent that they’re bringing from last season can carry over this season and that they can have another good season.
“I think that’s a very very important part of whether this team has success,” Constantine said. “Because there’s going to be plenty of new players on the team too because it was an old team that graduated a lot of very good players. The veterans that are returning along with the guy with the most experience that is (Graham) Sward, he isn’t a first-round pick, but he’s a fifth-round pick and certainly brings a lot of experience. There are some other guys too that maybe don’t have the notoriety because they’re not first two, three round NHL draft picks, but they’re good hockey players. So there are other guys too, so I would just lump all of those veterans into a group that their ability to lead will be a huge part of the success of the team.”
He said how there’s obviously talent and obvious hockey skills and that you don’t get drafted in the first round or at all if you don’t have those. Constantine however, thinks that leadership is a different skill.
“It’s a different skill than shooting a puck or doing crossover skating, so it’ll be interesting to see how those players evolve as leaders and that’ll be very important to the success of the team,” Constantine said.
When it comes to winning, there are two parts according to Constantine.
“I don’t think you win without some individual players with special gifts that just make a difference in games that the teams are relatively equal and the play is relatively even,” Constantine said. “Then there’s just some players that just do special things and that separates one team from another. So I think there are a few of those guys on this team that are special individual players that can make a difference. I just call those kinds of players difference-makers, I think they’re here on this team.”
Constantine made it clear that it’s not just the star players that make up a winning team.
“I think there’s a team element to being successful,” Constantine said. “There’s the way you play as a team, the way you work as a team, the way you’re hard to play against for other teams, the way you play defense, the teamwork you use beyond your individual talents.”
Constantine said that he hopes they can do both of those things with the individual talent that they have and their ability to work as a team.
“I know we have some individual talent on the team, I just hope we can learn to really play as a team and really be proud of all parts of the game, the offensive side, the defensive side, the special team side, the work ethic side, the hard to play against side, I hope we can embrace all parts of the game of hockey and want to be good at everything.”
Constantine said the biggest challenge for the team this season is that there can be an assumption and it’s a false assumption that if you’re good one year, you’re going to be good the next.
“I think the success you have in one game is based on the effort you put in that game,” Constantine said. “The success you have in one week is the effort you put into practice during the week before the games and that there’s nothing about being successful in the past that guarantees any type of success in the future. So I think that’s what this group of players has to be guarded against. They have to go out and earn whatever success they get this year regardless of anything that might have happened last year.”
While people high expectations for this Wenatchee team after what they accomplished as the Winnipeg ICE last season, Constantine said that he’s not an expectations guy. That much was made clear when he talked about false assumptions being the team’s biggest challenge.
“I believe that you look at the past a little because history is a great teacher and you anticipate the future a little because you should always be setting goals for yourself in terms of what you want to get done and you have to know where you want to get to,” Constantine said. “But I really am a live-in-the-moment type of guy. So our only expectations really are that we show up every day to the rink and work hard in practice, that if we have a meeting we pay attention, if you have a shift on the ice you give everything you got. So I think our philosophy will be sold so much in the present staying in the moment that I don’t really worry too much about where this whole thing is going down the road. A saying I love is a great future is just a bunch of great todays and so we’ll stay focused on the moment, we won’t worry too much about what’s going to happen down the road.”
Wenatchee opens the regular season Friday Sept. 22 when they host the Portland Winterhawks at 7 p.m. at the Town Toyota Center.
Northwest Sports Desk 