Mike Vellucci couldn't stay
away -- and fans of the Plymouth Whalers are grateful for it.
The successful multi-tasking
executive of the area's Ontario Hockey League franchise -- he serves as
the franchise's president, general manager and head coach --
relinquished his head-coaching duties early on in the 2007-08 season,
several months after leading the team to an Ontario Hockey League
championship.
However, Vellucci returned to
the bench early last season, and with his return came a success-filled
second half of the season for Plymouth, which advanced to the second
round of the OHL playoffs before getting knocked off by eventual
champion Windsor in a thrilling six-game series.
PlymouthCantonSports.com's Ed
Wright sat down with Vellucci recently for an interview.
ED WRIGHT: How do you like the
way the off-season unfolded for the Whalers?
MIKE VELLUCCI:
I think it went better than we expected. I really love our draft. I
know everybody says they got what they wanted, but we really did.
Things went back and forth a little bit with our European Draft. We
picked up Gabriel Landeskog from Sweden, but he wasn't going to report,
so I was able to flip him for a guy the Red Wings drafted, Tomas Tatar,
and we picked up two second-rounders and a fourth-rounder, so that
turned out to be a great deal there. We also signed Austin Mattson, a
Livonia kid who was playing in the USHL.
EW: What returning players do you see poised
to have a break-out season similar to the one Matt Hackett had last
season?
MV: I
think AJ Jenks will have a break-out year offensively. He had fewer
points last year than he did his draft year, but I think he'll have a
very good season. Tyler Seguin is something special, too. He's going to
be a top-10 pick someday (in the NHL Draft). Either of the Tyler Browns
are capable, too, of breaking out. Tyler G. Brown was very good in the
playoffs. I look for both of them to put up good numbers. And R.J.
Mahalak will score a lot of points for us this year if he's healthy.
EW: What did you miss the most
about coaching when you weren't behind the bench last year?
MV:
Winning (smile). We weren't winning games and I can't stand that. I
couldn't take it any longer. I missed being on the bench with the
players. I missed the interaction. When you're just the GM, you
don't have that much interaction. I like being there for them in the
good times and the bad. It's not always about wins on the ice. I like
it when they sign an NHL contract and they call me or when they call me
to play golf five years after they stopped playing with us. That's what
means the most to me.
EW: What is the most important
thing kids learn in the OHL that will help them become successful in
their post-hockey lives?
MV: Time
management. There's no doubt about it. From school work to practice to
weight training to having a social life -- they have to have a social
life or they're going to get burned out on sports -- time management is
the No. 1 thing we need to teach them. They can't keep putting off
their school work or they can't take their weight training off. The
hockey part will take care of itself, but if we can help them with
their time-management skills, it goes a long way.
EW: Do a lot of ex-players still
keep in touch?
MV: Oh
yeah. Jared Boll texts me and I'll hear from James Neal, James
Wisniewski and John Mitchell, all of whom are in the NHL. It's a lot of
fun to hear from them. Jared Boll got scratched from the playoffs
against the Red Wings this past spring and I told him, 'Do what the
coaches tell you and you'll be all right."
EW:
What kind of impact has the economic downturn had on the Whalers and
the OHL?
MV: Our
ticket sales were only down about 3 or 4 percent last year, so not
much. We're a cheap ticket compared to the Red Wings and we put on a
good show. People see the value in our product.
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