A Few Minutes with Mac
In the spirit of respected journalists such as Murrow, Cronkite and Rather - okay, scratch Rather - we tracked down GM Bob McNamara to get his perspective on what has been a roller-coaster season for the Griffins.
Griff Notes: As we near the season’s midpoint and prepare to enter the stretch run, what’s your overall evaluation of your team, in terms of the positives you’ve seen and your areas of concern?
McNamara: Well, we've had quite a negative stretch the last three or four weeks that we're very disappointed with. But overall, I’ve been pleased with the team. (The coaching staff and I) like the team, we like its makeup.
Obviously, we’d like to score more goals on a consistent basis, and that’s something we’re looking to address going forward. I think early on in the season we won some close games, and through that stretch we also lost some games that maybe we could have won. When you get going on a streak like that, things just tend to go the wrong way.
Having that streak in the middle of the season, you have to look at it as ‘the glass is half full.’ No one around here is happy with how things have gone lately, but it’s a situation where the guys have been through a difficult stretch – and hopefully we’re coming out of it after playing well the last few games – and you try to learn from it. Hopefully, your team is stronger. You’d much prefer to have a streak like that in the middle of the season rather than the end of the season. Getting off to a strong start the way we did, in terms of being 11 games over 0.500 before we started the streak, leaves us still in pretty good position to attack the top of our division and our conference.
Griff Notes: Are there specific things you and the coaching staff have done with the players to address the problems that were behind that nine-game winless streak?
McNamara: Anytime you can’t score, the first thing you need to do is to shoot the puck, from anywhere. We saw that through the stretch, particularly late in the stretch when we were in Hamilton, when (Todd Robinson) scored a goal by shooting the puck at the net from the corner. You can’t score if you don’t throw the puck at the net. We’ll continue to try to build on that thought process, in terms of putting more shots on net. That’s one thing.
Obviously, when you play through a losing streak, you tend to get a little disheartened and maybe not have the resolve to take the puck to the net, or to get to the net or to go through danger zones to try to score. There was a little bit of that through the stretch, and I think we've remedied that recently, with guys willing to pay a price to get to the net.
So it’s two things – battling through traffic to get to the net to score goals, and throwing the puck at the net. Those are the things we’d like to continue to do as we move through the rest of the season.
Griff Notes: There have certainly been many positives to this season as well. In terms of individual players, who stand out as pleasant surprises, either newcomers or guys who have improved from where they were last year?
McNamara: Niklas Kronwall has been arguably our best player all season. Through the stretch he had a bit of a slump where he wasn’t putting numbers up, and I think he tried to do too much on occasion to try to help the team. You find that when you have a lot of good character people who really hate to lose and want to win, they tend to want to do it on their own rather than stick with the team program. That happened a little bit with Niklas, but he’s been great all year, and I think he’s one of the best players in the league. Certainly, we’ve been pleased with his play.
Eric Manlow has been outstanding all season long, and he’s providing what we expected when we brought him in. Bryan Helmer has been great on the point, and when you have players like Kronwall and Helmer together on the point, your chances of getting pucks through and moving the puck out of your zone are much better.
Guys like Derek Meech are going to continue to get better. Brett Lebda is in his first full season and I expect him to improve. He’s not going to be a high point producer, but he’s going to be a guy that can skate the puck out of trouble, which we’ve seen him do on a number of occasions this year.
I’d like to see Eric Himelfarb produce more offense. I think he’s capable of doing it. He had a really good start then leveled off like everyone did, and we expect him to continue putting up numbers toward the end of the season.
Matt Ellis has put up numbers in bunches, and he continues to improve every year. He’s been strong both on the offensive and defensive side of things.
With our goaltenders (Joey MacDonald and Drew MacIntyre), we simply need them to play the way they did early on in the season.
Griff Notes: As GM, one of your responsibilities is to go out and add players who can help your team, and you certainly did that by signing Kip Miller. If the NHL season were to be canceled, are there any players out there in that same situation who you might be looking to sign?
McNamara: At this stage, we pretty much have our group here. The only notable addition would be Jiri Hudler coming back from Europe. We expect him back this week, and that will obviously be a shot in the arm offensively.
With Kip, he hasn’t played in about five months, and it’s taking him a little bit of time to get acclimated and get his timing back. But I think he’ll be really valuable to us down the stretch because he’s a natural scorer.
Griff Notes: What toll have the long-term absences of guys like Hudler, Tomas Kopecky and Kory Karlander had on your team and its style of play?
McNamara: When you lose goal scorers, it puts a lot of pressure on other guys that normally you don’t count on, on a nightly basis, to put the puck in the net.
Losing a guy like Hudler, who had a point a game, was a blow for us. We were able to maintain (our scoring) for a stretch, but eventually we need to score more goals. That took its toll a little bit. With Hudler coming back and Miller rounding into shape, I expect these guys to put numbers up.
Then we lose a guy like Karlander, who’s been a pretty valuable addition in terms of the all-purpose nature of the way he plays. He plays strong in his own end, and though he’s not going to put up a lot of points, he’s going to eat up valuable minutes on the ice and win big faceoffs. It was difficult to lose him at the time we did, but I think other guys have stepped up and will continue to step up.
Griff Notes: In light of the NHL’s situation, have the Red Wings coaches and management played a different role or had more involvement than usual with the Griffins this year?
McNamara: I don’t think there’s been significantly more involvement. We’ve certainly seen them here more often. I think they’re a little more cognizant of where we’re at in terms of winning and losing. Obviously, without their team playing, they can pay more attention to how we do.
During the recent stretch, (assistant GM) Jim Nill came in and met with the players on an individual basis. Then we had (GM) Ken (Holland) come and spend a few days with us in Cleveland. Having those guys around and having the prospects, and even the Griffins-contracted players, see them tends to have an impact.
Their coaches have come into town quite a bit more than they’ve been able to in the past, and we expect that to continue through the rest of the season, should the NHL stay locked-out.
Griff Notes: Everyone wants to win the Calder Cup, but what are some of the objectives that you want to accomplish over the last half of the season?
McNamara: The main thing is to make the playoffs. The second goal is home ice advantage, and the third goal is to win the division.
We may or may not be able to attain all those, but the main thing is to make the playoffs. Should we do so, I think our chances are very good to go a long way. Based on what we’ve been through this season - getting off to the best start we’ve ever had, then having the longest losing streak we’ve had – as a young group of guys and a new group of guys, as they face these things, we want them to grow together as teammates. Certainly, that should make us stronger down the stretch, in terms of handling any adversity we face.
Griff Notes: As we near the season’s midpoint and prepare to enter the stretch run, what’s your overall evaluation of your team, in terms of the positives you’ve seen and your areas of concern?
McNamara: Well, we've had quite a negative stretch the last three or four weeks that we're very disappointed with. But overall, I’ve been pleased with the team. (The coaching staff and I) like the team, we like its makeup. Obviously, we’d like to score more goals on a consistent basis, and that’s something we’re looking to address going forward. I think early on in the season we won some close games, and through that stretch we also lost some games that maybe we could have won. When you get going on a streak like that, things just tend to go the wrong way.
Having that streak in the middle of the season, you have to look at it as ‘the glass is half full.’ No one around here is happy with how things have gone lately, but it’s a situation where the guys have been through a difficult stretch – and hopefully we’re coming out of it after playing well the last few games – and you try to learn from it. Hopefully, your team is stronger. You’d much prefer to have a streak like that in the middle of the season rather than the end of the season. Getting off to a strong start the way we did, in terms of being 11 games over 0.500 before we started the streak, leaves us still in pretty good position to attack the top of our division and our conference.
Griff Notes: Are there specific things you and the coaching staff have done with the players to address the problems that were behind that nine-game winless streak?
McNamara: Anytime you can’t score, the first thing you need to do is to shoot the puck, from anywhere. We saw that through the stretch, particularly late in the stretch when we were in Hamilton, when (Todd Robinson) scored a goal by shooting the puck at the net from the corner. You can’t score if you don’t throw the puck at the net. We’ll continue to try to build on that thought process, in terms of putting more shots on net. That’s one thing.
Obviously, when you play through a losing streak, you tend to get a little disheartened and maybe not have the resolve to take the puck to the net, or to get to the net or to go through danger zones to try to score. There was a little bit of that through the stretch, and I think we've remedied that recently, with guys willing to pay a price to get to the net.
So it’s two things – battling through traffic to get to the net to score goals, and throwing the puck at the net. Those are the things we’d like to continue to do as we move through the rest of the season.
Griff Notes: There have certainly been many positives to this season as well. In terms of individual players, who stand out as pleasant surprises, either newcomers or guys who have improved from where they were last year?
McNamara: Niklas Kronwall has been arguably our best player all season. Through the stretch he had a bit of a slump where he wasn’t putting numbers up, and I think he tried to do too much on occasion to try to help the team. You find that when you have a lot of good character people who really hate to lose and want to win, they tend to want to do it on their own rather than stick with the team program. That happened a little bit with Niklas, but he’s been great all year, and I think he’s one of the best players in the league. Certainly, we’ve been pleased with his play. Eric Manlow has been outstanding all season long, and he’s providing what we expected when we brought him in. Bryan Helmer has been great on the point, and when you have players like Kronwall and Helmer together on the point, your chances of getting pucks through and moving the puck out of your zone are much better.
Guys like Derek Meech are going to continue to get better. Brett Lebda is in his first full season and I expect him to improve. He’s not going to be a high point producer, but he’s going to be a guy that can skate the puck out of trouble, which we’ve seen him do on a number of occasions this year.
I’d like to see Eric Himelfarb produce more offense. I think he’s capable of doing it. He had a really good start then leveled off like everyone did, and we expect him to continue putting up numbers toward the end of the season.
Matt Ellis has put up numbers in bunches, and he continues to improve every year. He’s been strong both on the offensive and defensive side of things.
With our goaltenders (Joey MacDonald and Drew MacIntyre), we simply need them to play the way they did early on in the season.
Griff Notes: As GM, one of your responsibilities is to go out and add players who can help your team, and you certainly did that by signing Kip Miller. If the NHL season were to be canceled, are there any players out there in that same situation who you might be looking to sign?
McNamara: At this stage, we pretty much have our group here. The only notable addition would be Jiri Hudler coming back from Europe. We expect him back this week, and that will obviously be a shot in the arm offensively.
With Kip, he hasn’t played in about five months, and it’s taking him a little bit of time to get acclimated and get his timing back. But I think he’ll be really valuable to us down the stretch because he’s a natural scorer.
Griff Notes: What toll have the long-term absences of guys like Hudler, Tomas Kopecky and Kory Karlander had on your team and its style of play? McNamara: When you lose goal scorers, it puts a lot of pressure on other guys that normally you don’t count on, on a nightly basis, to put the puck in the net.
Losing a guy like Hudler, who had a point a game, was a blow for us. We were able to maintain (our scoring) for a stretch, but eventually we need to score more goals. That took its toll a little bit. With Hudler coming back and Miller rounding into shape, I expect these guys to put numbers up.
Then we lose a guy like Karlander, who’s been a pretty valuable addition in terms of the all-purpose nature of the way he plays. He plays strong in his own end, and though he’s not going to put up a lot of points, he’s going to eat up valuable minutes on the ice and win big faceoffs. It was difficult to lose him at the time we did, but I think other guys have stepped up and will continue to step up.
Griff Notes: In light of the NHL’s situation, have the Red Wings coaches and management played a different role or had more involvement than usual with the Griffins this year?
McNamara: I don’t think there’s been significantly more involvement. We’ve certainly seen them here more often. I think they’re a little more cognizant of where we’re at in terms of winning and losing. Obviously, without their team playing, they can pay more attention to how we do.
During the recent stretch, (assistant GM) Jim Nill came in and met with the players on an individual basis. Then we had (GM) Ken (Holland) come and spend a few days with us in Cleveland. Having those guys around and having the prospects, and even the Griffins-contracted players, see them tends to have an impact.
Their coaches have come into town quite a bit more than they’ve been able to in the past, and we expect that to continue through the rest of the season, should the NHL stay locked-out.
Griff Notes: Everyone wants to win the Calder Cup, but what are some of the objectives that you want to accomplish over the last half of the season?
McNamara: The main thing is to make the playoffs. The second goal is home ice advantage, and the third goal is to win the division.
We may or may not be able to attain all those, but the main thing is to make the playoffs. Should we do so, I think our chances are very good to go a long way. Based on what we’ve been through this season - getting off to the best start we’ve ever had, then having the longest losing streak we’ve had – as a young group of guys and a new group of guys, as they face these things, we want them to grow together as teammates. Certainly, that should make us stronger down the stretch, in terms of handling any adversity we face.