The Edmonton Oilers will look a little different this season. You’ll see four lines rolling, unusual consistency on those lines, and possibly a checking unit assigned to elite opposition (at least at home). What does that mean for training camp? Please read this.
Mike Babcock is going to run a different team than Kris Knoblauch and we’re going to see some things. Jason Dickinson on a pure checking line that sees tough zone starts and time versus elites is quite possible. Finding clean air for McDavd-Draisaitl at home is also possible. Line matching may once agin be in vogue.
You’re going to find that Babcock is stubborn and will deploy individual players in baffling spots on the depth chart, at times running counter to what analytics is suggesting. Think Craig MacTavish with Toby Petersen on the power play, that kind of thing. It won’t be efficient but it will be consistent. When we last saw the good ship Oiler, the ‘versus elite’ minutes were divided up this way among the forwards:
- Connor McDavid 6:29
- Zach Hyman 5:43
- Leon Draisaitl 5:40
- Vasily Podkolzin 5:04
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 4:53
- Jack Roslovic 4:44
- Matt Savoie 4:36
- Jason Dickinson 4:31
- Kasperi Kapanen 4:29
If we’re guessing, I’m going to suggest that the McDavid-Draisaitl line gets some clean air via line matching, with the Nuge line and Dickinson line picking up the extra minutes. Mathieu Joseph played 2:40 per game versus elites with the St. Louis Blues. That may increase. I believe they’ll try Trent Frederic in that role, too. Kasperi Kapanen could play up and down the lines. Matt Savoie can’t get back soon enough.
Stan Bowman and the Oilers are holding a media avail this morning as camp starts. This will begin the flow of new information from the team to the fans. Mike Babcock didn’t come here to copy Kris Knoblauch’s template. Prepare for lineup tweaks and unusual deployment. Dickinson in a role that takes him beyond five minutes a game versus tough opponents is possible, and line matching should return to the land of the ice and snow.
On the Lowdown today, our feature guest will be Kevin McCurdy. We’ll talk about the media avail and about how things line up moving forward (Savoie, Jarry, etc). Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Why Edmonton Oilers training camp will be defined by speed, aggression, change
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7595294/2026/09/16/oilers-training-camp-mike-babcock-team-speed/
Would it be fair to say this team at forward is way faster than last year?
I really liked Shawn Belle back in the day. He was a big body player who could really scoot. I thought he was going to make it.
Same
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/thousands-sign-petition-calling-on-oilers-to-reverse-formenton-signing/
Bowman. Babcock. Formenton. Highest ticket prices in the league. etc. etc. etc.
There’s an absolute gospel truth you have to understand about being an Oiler fan. This team doesn’t care a whit about what you think.
They’re happy to take your money. They hope to entertain. And all they care about is winning.
If you want honesty, ethics, or generosity, you’ve come to the wrong place. Winning the Cup whatever it takes is the only priority. Everything else is a distant second. They’ll do whatever it takes. They’ll spend whatever it takes. They’ll ignore whatever it takes.
I’m not saying it’s right or it’s wrong. It just is. If you can embrace this truth, you can embrace the Oilers. If you need more from a sports team than this, I’m afraid the Oilers will disappoint you.
I mean they are a business, so yes happy to take your money…
All they care about is winning…. I hope they also care about treating their people well… But how would I know….
Do they care about what the fans want? I think the fans want to win above all else for the most part as well… So i think they are aligned… Not sure if all of the fans care about treating people well though …
Honesty ethics and generosity? I dunno. Don’t look to a sports team for these things. They are more easily found elsewhere.
Thing is, I mostly agree with you. But I have always known these things, and believe them true of most sports teams. The guys I grew up idolizing, kobe, jordan, would stop at nothing to win. They would sacrifice anything and anyone. Nothing else mattered. This is what made them so great, until I grew up, understood a bit.more about what I believed to be important, and understood these guys were not actually good role models…. Now I have other people I think are great
This is sports.
I agree that’s it’s the majority of sports team. There are some teams with owners who are more enlightened and the culture of those teams are more fan centric and progressive.
Having been an Oilers fan since 78, I believe the relationship between this team and it’s fans is entirely transactional. Fans are revenues to the Oilers, a means to an end.
I would hope that the Oilers are in the business of winning. It’s a violent game played men for millions of dollars. That the stakes are high is what makes it compelling.
Movies-music-sports are just a diversion to keep the common man entertained. I know all have them have an unethical side to them. As for more cross wired people I would say the first two double lap the sporting industry.
A fundamental part of the Oilers’ identity is that they offer redemption for lost hockey souls, and it’s not a new phenomenon – MacT, Lumley, etc.
I believe in second chances for those who repent.
The only quibble I have about this situation is that the Oilers didn’t get Carter Hart.
Funny. I wasn’t getting ” a lost soul keen to repent” vibe from that Babcock presser.
Kucherov’s line of “faster, but dumb.”
YEP.
And smart will win when it plays against fast and dumb.
Something every coach and every evaluator at every level should realize…but they do not. And the cycle gets worse.
Baby Brogan Rafferty’s Uncle Steve’s predictions for 2026-2027:
1) McD scores 161 points and plays a highly structured game, winning the Selke, Hart, and Art Ross. Oilers fans are upset because they wanted McD to only win the Selke.
2) Oilers win the Stanley but their playoff GF% is only 53%. Oilers fans question if the SC win was analytics based.
3) Darnell plays LW for San Jose and scores 42 goals playing on a line with Celebrini. Seven Oilers fans cry out “I told you so”.
Love this. 🤣🤣🤣
A tip o’ the hat.
I hope Babcock can teach our guys to cheat like the old Red Wing teams. They were criminals.
Tony Brar has surfaced at SN – Anchoring SN Central.
Cutter Gauthier 6×13.5M.
Cutter is a very rich man this morning after receiving a cheque for an $18,651 million signing bonus.
His new contract is almost entirely signing bonuses and only has one season with any no trade clause, a 10 team NTC in year 6.
18 thousand million? Thats more than a billion dollars!
With an 18M deposit, what else do I really need?
Where did my motivation go?
oh yeah, taxes. Okay I need at least one more year.
California taxes are horrendous.
After doing the math California is not such a sought out destination as it once was.
For readers at home, it looks like after taxes, poor Cutter will ONLY take home $16 million out of the $18 million signing bonus.
But also, everyone wants to play for the Sharks and Anaheim and the Kings and they are run by super smart GMs who will pay as little as possible for players who are dying to play in these cities in California.
Oops, did I just poke a hole in another often repeated HH narrative?
$2M left with 21 skaters (3G). Not a deep forward group, the D are thin. The Ducks window is closing(ed).
What nonsense.
Carlsson
Gauthier
Sennecke
Terry
Granlund
Killiorn
Vatrano
Poehling
Greer
Mallot
Washe
Gaucher
Roger McQueen and Nikita Klepov, both high first round picks likely impact players sooner rather than later…perhaps this season.
The left side of their D is very strong while the right side needs shoring up but they have several graduating RD who might pop.
If not they have serious prospect and draft capital to swing trades just like they did last season with John Carlson.
The window is just opening. You should check out the Athletic analysis published today that assesses where all teams are in their win/lose cycle. You won’t like it.
Ctrl C Ctrl V
of course every first round draft pick has always been impactful and incredible out of the gate so roger mcqueen and nikita klepov will be highly impactful players… Brogan rafferty has entered the chat.
You take Brogan’s name out of your mouth!
Nope.
It’s over.
Winning the first round last year was their Stanley Cup.
Contracts have gone afowl, Ver-beak can’t get his Ducks in a row.
I would encourage everyone to listen to Bouch’s media today. His maturity shines through so brightly, it was impossible to not hear it.
Stauff has talked about him stepping up as a leader this season with Nurse gone – I think he might be right.
Wally talked about learning from Bouch and how he prepares for games.
He’ll take some light off Connor-Leon-Goalie etc especially after losses which I’m sure the players will be happy with that.
Interesting at the end when asked if 25 minutes a night was too much.
He emphatically said YES then walks it back saying he’ll play as much as they need and sometimes its not enough etc.
It’s not gonna get easier with the $9M Mediocre Minute Muncher gone Evan.
He is not wrong. 25 minutes a night for any player is too many. Some guys can do it but perform definitely dips. Playing guys 25 minutes a night in the regular season is a symptom of poor depth.
is it?
11 d-men played more than Bouchard’s 24:40 per game and I would note that he was better as the season went on.
He’s known for slow starts and then long heaters once he’s warmed up.
I don’t recall him saying an emphatic yes.
I believe he said sometimes and sometimes it feels not enough.
Sorry, I saw this after I replied. But I agree with you. There was no emphatic “yes.” He gave a nuanced and thoughtful answer about game flow before saying it was actually a coaching question.
‘Walked it back’ was also mentioned. He said yes. that was said. Cheers.
From what I remember super underrated smooth-puck moving Brian Rafalski was always on the ice for Babcock. Bouchard played a ton of minutes in London. I really believe Bouchard becomes the minute munching D man that wins Norris trophies.
23:48/G over three years – Lidstrom at 25:38 during the stretch.
Bouchard was at 24:40 last season – already Norris level minute munching.
You have to remember we basically ran one PP with Bouchard of course. If we run a PP2 with Walman Bouchard will lose time on that end but I believe he makes it up on more 5 on 5 play.
I also have little concern with Bouchard’s minutes – he’s close to tireless out there.
I don’t agree with you and mentioned he walked it back.
I didn’t hear an emphatic “yes” in his response. He spoke about how game flow impacts the way minutes feel. He also said it was a coaching question, which matches the rhetoric used by McDavid, Draisaitl, et al. when it comes to minutes and line up questions.
Yes, it is.
Won’t have to dig the puck out of the net so often.
Sheesh.
Can Dickinson be the new Kirk Maltby
Or Kris Draper
I think that’ll be the role, and maybe Josh Samanski fills a role, too. Some believe Samanski has another offensive gear, so we’ll see.
I agree 100% on Samanski – he led the Condors in 5 on 5 points at the time of call-up and I would suggest he was full value for that lead.
He cheated for defence in his games but he’s got more to give, very smart, good hands, under-rated release on his shot.
Don’t over think this – give Samanski 10-12 minutest as 4C with apx 90 second of PK time and reap the positive impact reward in the playoffs.
When Maltby was 31, like Dickinson is now, he scored 5 goals and 11 points with a -9.
Are you sure about this?
Hey could you post a few tweets detailing Adam Fantilli’s 8 year contract that you said he signed yesterday????
I recall LT saying that anyone that posted a rumour from a fake twitter account from the insiders would be suspended lets alone just making shit up like this (after having done it maybe two weeks before with the Jonsson has signed in Sweden made up post).
The fact he doesn’t even acknowledge what he’s done is so immature.
It is embarrassing. But symptomatic of chronically online people who post falsehoods, get called out, and then claim it was just a joke. Fib has definitely embraced the post-fact world we find ourselves in.
Math, like honesty, can be a challenge for some people.
LW Kirk Maltby was born in 1972, so his 31 year old season was 2003-04. He scored 14 goals & 19 assists that season. You used his 32 Y.O. season stats.
C Kris Draper was also mentioned. Dickinson was signed to play C, like Draper. In Draper’s 31 Y.O. season he scored 14 goals & 21 assists, and had his best season as a 32 Y.O. and then continued to produce decent offense the next 2 seasons.
It’s almost like you enjoy being wrong…
My guess is that he ChatGPed it and didn’t verify.
True enough though Maltby still had the wheels for the pressure game so does Dickinson.
One of my all times faves and among the fellows I was mad to see go.
I remember the exact time and place I was when I heard of the trade on the radio. Couldn’t figure out why he was traded he surprisingly had a good shot I thought he would be a 20 goal scorer on a few occasions. Chimera-Cleary-Cogliano-Maltby 4 trades that hurt. Just as is the case with Ryan McLeod speed keeps you in the league a lot longer than mitts.
still a pisscutter lol
Bowman mentioned that it will be up to the coaches if they use McDavid on the PK – of course that’s the case but he was listing off guys that will PK as he was asked if it was top of mind for roster building.
Bowman talked about looking for a big bounce back from Jarry. Started off great last year, one of the best goalies in the east at the time of trade. Never refund his game after the injury and the team was not good in front of him. Total re-set.
Bowman acquired him, so yeah that’s what the GM wants. However, he also went out and got two more guys, so that’s a thing.
Plenty of verbal that Levi has been very good. Between the two of them they should be OK and then of course there’s Anderson who could come to the rescue.
Got two other guys and let one go.
These days most teams have 3 NHL caliber goalies available.
Depends on one’s definition of NHL calibre. Genuine non-3 goalie teams:
Atlantic:
No – TBL, DET, FLA
Not really – BOS, Dipietro has played 4 NHL games in his career.
Metro
No – PIT, WSH, CBJ, NYI, NJD
Central
No – All 8
Pacific
No – SEA, CGY
Was pretty generous on teams like Buffalo with Ellis, Kolosov with PHI, Van with Tolopilo (he was awful but tank), etc.
By the most generous metrics, 18/32 teams don’t have 3 NHL calibre goalies.
It’s the waivers hard to develop goalies from the original draft team unless it’s a sure thing. There’s usually only 2 spots open on the roster and most goalies aren’t trustworthy in a NHL back-up role until they’re waiver eligible.
Bowman wouldn’t comment on Savoie’s contract and if he tried to get him signed prior to the new CBA parameters but did say “I’m confident that will work itself out in time!”
Also said “in time we will get to that”.
Stauff yesterday said he didn’t see a new deal coming before the CBA changes last night (as came true) and he noted that, as of new July 1, they can re-sign both McDavid and Hyman – not sure if he was getting at “need to save some money” or what.
Improved matchups/line matching will be a great improvement on what we’ve seen recently.
I agree. Sounds like special teams WILL include McDavid which isn’t what we had heard before.
Is the Savoie injury a result of this talk? If Formenton makes the team I do believe he will become our best PK in lickety-split time fading McDavids PK minutes.
Unless injured, I think Formenton is a lock on the opening active roster.
They aren’t waiting him – there are other team that wanted to sign him so they’d lose him and, really, its Jones at 13F (including Foremnton) and then the tweener group of Hutson/Marjala/Tralmaks/Raty (I have Michaels in a lower group).
Like you’ve mentioned there’s 5% chance he’s waived if healthy. He knows DJ will put him in a position to succeed. The kid needs to block out the noise he still has a decade in him if he’s as good as he was before the legal trouble. I was bummed out with the Savoie injury as I really thought Ssvoie would thrive out of the gate under D.J new offensively aggressive PK. Formenton has me back in the excited mode to finally see a P.K that we haven’t seen in 40 plus years.
Rite? I mean that’s half of how Mac T got them to the final.
I missed the beginning of the Bowman presser. I guess he said Janmark and Regula are closer to returning than Savoie or Andersen.
A bit surprising on Janmark (I don’t think he plays for the team this season) but we knew on Regula. Be nice to get him healthy so they can waive and send him down and get him off the cap.
couple tidbits from Stauffer yesterday on his show:
-players have been very impressed with Levi so far – I think he said impressed with his “fire” or something
-continued to talk about the “distressed asset” forward we are trying to get. Can play center. Mentioned this player has worn out their welcome with their current team and their value is dropping “literally as we speak.” Sounds like Kirby Dach to me, with his value dropping in Montreal with the Kreider signing
They said “Ryan Spooner can play center” too, so let’s remember training camp is for lies, damn lies and statistics.
True but I’ve also never heard them be outwardly complimentary of a goalie in training camp before
Levi beating out Anderson and Jarry for the playoff starter spot would be huge for the future competitiveness of the franchise.
Such a great trade. Third round pick is an amazing price for an NHL ready goalie with potential, whether it works out or not
Jesperi?
You keep stumping for this guy — what is it you see that others miss?
Good question, though Im not familiar with the word stumping.
Truthfully, in this context when i heard of Bobs description, Jesperi jumped to mind.
Do I really think he is a good acquisition? I did at 2M if Canes bought him out. So Im not sure Id look at him for much more money.
For players, if they lose their drive, get a reputation for lack of effort, they earned it and no wonder teams stay away. That’s inside intel but likely true in his case. Or was true.
Roslovich was carrying some baggage and he was cheap and excellent for us in the regular season. Now hes looking at a top winger position in Toronto. A player like Jesperi who plays in the NHL at 18 and is now a veteran of 6 seasons and well paid, what does he want in life?
He may have run out of gas. He may turn his efforts places other than hockey. Or he may re-commit to the game. For cheap, I don’t think you could find more talent for a 4th line center.
So maybe he has changed and has potential. Need an insider to find out.
Mostly stumping because its been a long summer and endless bloviating just passes the time.
Kirby Dach as near $4MM would be a terrible acquisition, in my opinion.
I think I agree. Though he had good stats last season 1.7 P/60 5v5. I would take him if he was cheap and they knew he is healthy
Dach-Dach-Frederic or even better Dach-Dach-Clattenburg.
now that is a line i would tune in to see.
Maybe one day, for Clattenburg, if he can stay on the ice (healthy and out of the penalty box) and puts in the work the organization has been asking of him.
I’d MUCH prefer Dach/Samanski/Frederc.
What if the Habs ate half of Dach salary? They can afford to do that without fan revolt now that they signed Kreider for so cheap. They can pass on the savings to us. Bowman had faith in Dach and his brother. I do think Bowman circles around on Kirby especially at the trade deadline if his numbers are down due to injury or opportunity. Kirby is only 25 add-in Formenton for a combo platter of a thrifty 3 million or less. This would be pure big speed which in my opinion we were lacking with the departures of Foegele-McLeod. I wonder what the Bowman and Hughes history is?
I don’t want him at near $2MM either.
He is simply NOT the player you think he is. He is not even close to the player that crushed us a rookie in the play-in. Aggregate injuries have lowered his ceiling, he’s not a center any more and he’s not this banger you seem to think he is.
At least from everything I’ve seen, heard and read.
I seen enough of a glimpse of his old self this playoff. He’s only 25 some players still play well at 75% health others look finished career wise. Bowman still has skin in him. Come on Stan make it happen sometime before the deadline.
Casey Mittelstadt?
Why would Boston trade him? He seems good
Prospectoverture!
Rudolfs Berzkalns and his Jacks of Lumber (a bygone traveling jug band of the Appalachians) begin their regular season with the USHL Fall Classic tournament in Chicago with a match at 11 a.m. Welling time. However, as the Latvian has yet to be returned to his club team, this comment will be more of a preview of the upcoming prospecting season.
This season features a dozen NAmateurs:
USHL Muskegon (Berzkalns)
USHL Sioux Falls (Cameron)
CHL Saskatoon* (Lewandowski)
CHL Windsor (Harvey, Robinson)
NCAA UMass-Lowell (Wakely)
NCAA Western Michigan (Lafreniere, Sharp)
NCAA Michigan (Barnett, Park)
NCAA Notre Dame (Fischer)
NCAA St. Thomas (Berry)
*Placed with S’toon until otherwise determined. If Limbo had a junior team, he’d be there.
The USHL season starts today while the CHL officially begins tomorrow; Sask and Windsor begin Friday.
The NCAA begins a fortnight hence. Fischer is the only senior, while Lafreniere is the only freshman. Sharp is a junior, with the remaining four all sophomores.
Presently, Lewandowski and Wakely are the only NAmateurs who will not play with or against fellow NAmateurs, at least in the regular season.
Friday, November 20 is the first of six times this season where every NAmateur will be in action (barring injury, suspension or trade).
Barzkalns is on the training camp roster.
As their top pick last year, he probably gets one game before being returned.
One nice thing about Babcock, is that it takes pressure off McD and Drai to always be the voice of the team. Babcock wants to be the boss. He likes talking to the media.
Babcock won’t be following Knoblauch’s template but he will probably use what worked well and contrary to popular belief there were some things that did go well. I sincerely hope that playing the glimmer twins together isn’t one of them. However what is probably even more important is that Connor & Leon will be listening to the coach for a change, while still remaining to be the voices of the team. Babcock will do what he does with his self imposed safe guards in place. I think Babcock will be just fine.
Is there any real doubt that “playing the glimmer twins together” is going to happen to some extent.
People talk about Crosby/Malkin playing apart, well, I just check and from 2007/2010, they played 30% of their TOI together. Last week I checked Datsyuk and Zetterberg and the three year stretch I checked was 40%
Knob talked to the media every non-off day and Babcock will do the same.
The coach media will be more “entertaining” but I don’t think the media (who are the ones that request which players talk pre-post game and post-practice) will be requesting McDavid, Drai, Hyman any less.
I am not talking about quantity of media availability, I am talking quality.
Babcock wants to be the face of the Franchise (or he has in his past coaching roles). He is arrogant and cocky (good things) and this will help in his interactions with the media and help take flack away from McDrai.
I think Babcock being a distraction for the media will be a benefit to McDrai.
This is a great point. The media scene is different of course, but I noticed how Maurice controlled the narrative and how loose the panthers were compared to the Oilers. Babcock has the big ego, like Maurice and Cooper and other top coaches. Babcock might also call BS a lot more straight out than we’ve seen lately. I hope he can use humour to deflect things, sure works for Maurice
This is exactly it.
Need less talk, more do.
Agreed.
I have a hard time believing that a coach who has been out of the game for five years will be a panacea for the Oilers issues. I hope I am wrong.
The McD and Drai’s verbal about Babcock is so weird. Very cultish for a guy who has not coached them in a single game yet.
Anyone expecting Babcock to solve all the Oilers problems will be disappointed. I suspect the club will improve in suppressing opposition chances, but I don’t think the current roster is an ideal fit. I’ve been saying for some time there will be changes. And of course, the goaltending has to be good. We don’t know that yet.
I believe the players will be set up to improve in many areas, as a team, with help of Babcock and his coaching staff.
Of course there will be changes through the season but I’m excited to see the incumbent organizationally signed players perform.
Of course, no team will go anywhere without at least “good” goaltending and I am confident that the goalies, all three of them, will be set up to succeed if the team does indeed improve their overall 2-way structure and puck management and commitment thereto.
If one of the goalies is even slightly above average consistently that will improve the team so much Babcock will be hailed as a genius
Babs might be the boss but from here it looks like they’ve built considerable support around him, and from pros he already knows. If that experience and brainpower can click in time…
The chance to “more do” starts tomorrow.
I have my popcorn. Irresistable force meets the immovable wall. The Full McDavid vs. The Full Babcock.
I am somewhat skeptical that this can work. I am not saying that it won’t work. I hope for the best, but…
Many are upset about the likelihood they load up. I get it but I think we will see a major shift in how they deploy the load up.
Most recently, Knob would have them apart and, essentially any time they were down late in the 2nd, he’d load up, play them every second or third shift, work in a make-shift third line every once in a while and fade 2-3 forwards completely. If it worked, they’d play together until they lost and then split.
I think Babcock will be much more strategic taking advantage of matchups and situations and will still work his entire group to get them all enough ice.
This was one of the things Knoblauch didn’t do well. He would load them up out of desperation putting the pressure on them to do something special, instead of staying the course with the entire group working together to achieve their goal.
I am excited to see a different deployment. KK frustrated the heck out of me last year. What is the opposite to not line matching at all? Maybe we’ll see a bimodal deployment with two modes: McDrai together and apart while comfortably switching to and from as required, either home-away, and in-game. I don’t think this is a common coaching strategy. This is not the blender where KK many times we made line adjustments the team hadn’t practiced (judging from practice line reports). If the coaches and players plan and accept their dual roles it could keep the opposition off balance. It certainly beats KK’s blender where he committed to a particular lineup for a whole 12 minutes, let alone 12 games. I like to believe whatever deployment Babs employs will be an improvement.
I was likewise frustrated, Knob’s latterday load-ups made clear he had no plan and nothing to check down to. Got to the point where him forcing the issue, pushing the glimmers out again and again, and seeing it fall flat, was like seeing the squad burn a five minute power play without registering a shot.
Where do you go from there?
Last night Stauff talked about how aggressive they will be on the PK and referenced all the guys with pace that will kill and said “McDavid will kill’”.
Mentioned maybe 50 second PP shifts and getting a 2nd unit out there as a way to get more involved.
I thought DJ already said McD won’t kill.
It’s funny how sometime it seems as if it’s Stauffer’s team. Whatever he says goes.
He did, right after the hiring.
Stauff has been all over both McDavid and Drai killing.
We’ll find out in the next few weeks.
Bowman doing media now.
Talks about bodies to the net more this year.
Talks about how prepared they will be to play under Babcock. He has so many ideas, so organized and so prepared.
They knew the Formenton signing would not be universally accepted so they took their time and did their diligence. Confident he’ll be a positive member of the team and the community.
Growth with McDavid and Leone will be doing what it takes for the team to win. Part of that will be 2-way play.
Team will be very organizes. Will see in season growth as they learn Babcock’s systems, etc. Expect the coach to play a big role in growth of team.