Photo by Aleš Fevžer, sourced from https://siol.net/sportal/hokej/nick-bonino-se-vraca-v-nhl-665392
Nick Bonino has retired from professional hockey - but only because he has been hired by Kyle Dubas to be an Assistant Coach in the NHL with his old team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has never coached before, but as The Athletic have put it, he was seen as a "coach on the ice" during the Penguins' Cup runs in 2016 and 2017. He has also played under their new, young head coach, Dan Muse (for the Rangers and Predators) and can connect with his old teammates, Crosby/Letang/Malkin/Rust, bridging the gap between young and old in a team trying to turn the corner on a dying dynasty under Kyle Dubas. A fun connection here is that the guy who helped me prepare for my sadly-cancelled meeting with Olimpija was also hired by Kyle Dubas (in Toronto, though).
Ok, that's the NHL-side of the things out of the way. What does this mean for us?
Well, I think the club came out of this well. They could have caused a fuss and tried to stop him from leaving his contract with us, only recently signed, but they did not stand in the way of a fantastic opportunity for him and his family. Ultimately, we just have to be grateful and appreciative that someone of Nick Bonino's stature came to play for us and put us on the map amongst current and recent NHL-ers. Any frustration at losing him is purposeless, as it was very uncertain that he would return next season anyway, even if he did end up unexpectedly signing a contract to do so.
Mr Lefebvre contacted me after I posted on Instagram about this (follow @olimpijahockeyblog, we are close to 200 followers now!), and he mentioned that this is part of the culture of 'doing things the right way' that the team is trying to build. He is right that if players across the hockey community hear and see that OLL treats players well, we are more likely to attract better players.
Right now, though, we are without our special teams star and second-line centre. Mr Lefebvre said we would sign a replacement centre - it'll be very interesting to see who they go for. One thing to note is that Bonino's contract was likely the most expensive in the squad - this will free up some 'cap space' (budget) for us to go big-game hunting, at least in theory.
I think we must balance any big signing with promoting the development of our younger players, though. Reportedly, the team was already looking for another centre to replace Bičevskis. Of course, I want us to sign a great 2C. Paradoxically to some, for the Bičevskis replacement I hope we do not get a massive upgrade. I would prefer us to sign someone Bičevskis-esque, maybe a grizzled 4C. Why? Because I want Beričič to have an open lane to the 3C position.
Bonino's signing was so beneficial in part because of the great example he set the rest of the squad, in particular the 'kid line' of Beričič, Sodja and Mehle. I feel strongly that all three of those guys should have the opportunity to move up to the 3rd line, with time on the second powerplay unit for Mehle. Sodja will be effective on the 4th line and PK for his whole career, I am sure, but he still deserves the chance to see if he can develop into more than that. If Beričič doesn't get a serious shot at being the 3rd line centre and Mehle doesn't get the opportunity to see if he can turn into a goal-scoring sniper, we are not building a culture that truly 'does things the right way'. The development of these players will stall and their career trajectories will be stunted if they do not get increased ice time and opportunities on special teams. We must built and promote from within in tandem with acquiring top talent from without. It's easier said than done, but we must make moves in both of these areas to give us the best chance at sustainable success.
How our projected lines look right now:
POLEI - BOYCHUK - MEYER
SABOLIČ - SIMŠIČ - MAHKOVEC
MEHLE - BERIČIČ - SODJA
PANCE - KUMANOVIĆ - KAPEL
To be honest, I don't even know if Lovro can play centre. Maybe Pance would take over. I really don't like Simšič as 2C here, but this is how the depth chart currently shakes out, in my opinion. I don't have anything against Nik at all, but I just don't see him effectively creating offense from the centre position. This would put way too much pressure on Boychuk and the top line to make it happen offensively, which is why the club will be energetically tracking down a 2C right now. If they'd had a meeting with me, perhaps I could have helped out with this 😪
Even if they do make a decent signing, I still think this piles the pressure on Boychuk to perform for us next season. Bonino was integral to our improved PP and while I do have hope for Polei in a similar role to Bonino on PP1, 'the proof will be in the pudding', as we say in English (we'll have to wait and see).
Whilst we're on the subject of projected lines, how about the news that there is one more major defensive signing on the way? To be honest, I was surprised by this. I don't see where they would even fit in, really. I am a big believer in Bohinc and Ćosić, so I don't want these guys' to be falling down the depth chart any further than necessary. One more RD to push Gregorc, Hebar and Crnović into 7th/8th/9th D would be ideal, although I am fairly worried it might be a LD who will disrupt my planned lineup on the left side below. I am very open to Ćosić joining Lalonde on the 1st pair, but I just have this vision of Bohinc and Lalonde as our soul-crushing 1st pairing right now. As I've said before, I think giving Mašič more sheltered minutes on the 3rd pair will help him regain confidence and unlock some of that Rolls Royce gameplay we saw in his first season with us. Same as above for the kid line, we have to be careful to balance internal promotion and development of players with acquiring external talent.
1st pair: Bohinc - Lalonde
2nd pair: Ćosić - Kirichenko
3rd pair: Mašič - Gregorc/Hebar
7th D - Gregorc/Hebar
Just as an addendum, I really appreciated Mr Lefebvre contacting me and I hope this signals improving relations between myself and the club. I still have hopes to work with them in the not-too-distant future, so we'll see. Maybe that's delusional, but then the delusional people are usually the ones who succeed... Regardless of my delusions, until the new signings emerge, I wish you a pleasant start to summer!
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