Hockey Season Preview

10/4/2023

Get to know Iowa Wild’s new head coach, Brett McLean, and gain player perspective from returning leftwing Mike O’Leary. And, take a detailed look at the Buccaneers’ upcoming schedule. All this and more to keep you coming back to the ice this winter. 

LET’S GET WILD

From 2018-2023, the Wild were coached by Tim Army. Army’s tenure was hindered by complications from the pandemic, but he did lead the Wild to some success. The team won a playoff series in his first year as head coach and posted winning records in the next three seasons despite COVID-19 leading to the cancellation of the season in 2020 and no playoffs being held in 2021.  

In Army’s last season in charge, the Wild finished with a record of 34-27, good enough for 79 points and a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs. However, the fruits of their labor went unharvested after losing their playoff series with the Rockford IceHogs. The abrupt end to their season has stuck with returning forward Mike O’Leary throughout the offseason. They’ll be looking to improve on those performances this season.

“It definitely motivates me. I mean, especially the way we went out last year, losing two games in overtime. It felt like it was a series that we should have had,” said O’Leary. 

The stiff competition the Wild face on a regular basis — and are sure to face should they return to the playoffs — is not lost on new head coach Brett McLean. 

“We know that the Central Division is really tough in the AHL. We feel like we’re a very good team. We know we’re competing against a lot of really good teams. Hopefully, we can make our way into the playoffs again this year and then make some noise,” said McLean. 

Despite the tough loss, the Wild are reloading to make it back to the playoffs and beyond.

“With the amount of guys we have coming back and the guys that we’ve added, there’s a real sense of urgency to do more and to do better than we did last year. And, I really think we’re capable of that,” said O’Leary.

“We want to win this year. Our goal is to win, and we believe we’re extremely capable of doing that. So, we expect nothing but success this year,” he said.

McLean has been coaching within the organization for six years now, three as an assistant for the Iowa Wild from 2017-2020 and the last three seasons as an assistant for the Minnesota Wild.

McLean brings an extensive playing background into his coaching career, with 18 years of professional hockey under his belt, six of which were in the NHL. He also spent several years playing overseas in Europe. That background helps McLean ease the transition for players coming into an unfamiliar situation.

“I was a journeyman hockey player. I played in lots of different places and in lots of different cultures. I think it really helped me as a player that I kind of played every role… I was the guy having success in the NHL, I was the guy getting sent down to the minors, I was the guy on waivers. So, I’ve been through all those experiences that these players are going to go through,” said McLean, adding that players are more often than not moving from a different country to play professional hockey. 

Not only will his experience as a player living both the highs and lows of professional hockey aid him, but so will the perspective he’s gained from how other countries approach the game.

“In Sweden, they look at the game and they train entirely differently than we do over here. Switzerland has all sorts of new ideas as well. So, that also helps me relate to the players that are coming from Sweden, that are coming from Switzerland, that are coming from Austria. Obviously, Marco Rossi (who finished second on the team in points last season) is someone from Austria that’s very important to our organization,” said McLean.

McLean says he originally had no interest in becoming a coach. While he enjoyed the experience he had from playing in many different places, he and his family did not want to continue to move around. After his family moved back to his home country of Canada, it only took six weeks of “normalcy” and following his wife around for her to come to a realization. 

“She said, ‘Hey, I think you need to get a job,’” said McLean with a chuckle.

After reaching out to Andrew Burnette, who was the Minnesota Wild’s assistant general manager at the time, Burnette told McLean there was an open spot as an assistant for the Iowa Wild. Once he began preparing for the interview, the fire it lit under McLean made him realize this is what he wanted to do in his post-playing career.  

O’Leary commented on what he’s been able to learn about his new head coach heading into the season, despite having only spoken to McLean on the phone prior to the interview. 

“A lot of the guys last year who had played NHL games had nothing but great things to say about him. There’s a lot of optimism around this year and a lot of really good energy. I’m just looking forward to getting down there and meeting him, and I’m expecting great things,” said O’Leary.

FAST, RELENTLESS, DISCIPLINED

McLean plans to implement his style and philosophy of coaching for the upcoming season — and Wild fans will surely be excited.

“When I got the job, I said these three key words, and they’ve become the way I’d like to see our team play: fast, relentless and disciplined. That’s how we’re going to play, with our instincts. We’re going to be relentless, we’re going to never quit on pucks, we’re going to be going at the opposition at all times, we’re going to be in their face. And we’re going to play with discipline, both within our structure and how we play the game,” said McLean.

Having a fast, relentless and disciplined playstyle is going to make the Wild a difficult team to contend with this season.

“When you have a team that can skate hard and be fast, especially for 60 minutes, you really wear the other team down… Not everyone wants to play hard all the time. Some guys like to take it easy, and, when you’re playing a team that’s going to play hard every night, that wears on you, especially in a 72-game season. Those are a couple of things that definitely make a successful team,” said O’Leary. 

Being a team in the minor leagues creates a lot of roster turnover, with players constantly being called up, sent down and moved around. The locker room of a professional sports team is an ecosystem, and adjustments throughout the season can harm it. Strong leadership helps to keep all the gears turning and players performing.

“I think the focal point, especially of an AHL team, is that leadership is crucial. If you have a strong leadership core, which fortunately we do in our locker room, they’re able to keep everything stable and keep everybody on the same page. The strength of the team is really the team. It’s no specific individual. There were times last year where we were down a bunch of guys, and we played some of our best hockey,” said O’Leary.

The moving around and constant flux in the roster is part of the hockey life, according to McLean.

“That’s the job that we signed up for. And, again, I fall back on my experiences, both as a player and as a coach. That’s the way it is in the AHL. You’ll almost never have the same lineup two games in a row. For those situations, you always have to be flexible, you always have to be ready to adapt, and you just have to accept that challenge and embrace the chaos a little bit. At the end of the day, or beginning, the main thing players do is focus on who the guy is next to them,” said McLean.

“As a young guy, sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming knowing that there’s new guys in the locker room each day or you don’t know who’s going to get called up, who’s going to get sent down, or whether it’s going to be you. You kind of just learn that you’re going to just worry about yourself. Focus on the things that you really can control and how you can perform to the best of your ability. When you’re able to do that, you just focus on the guys that are in a locker room that day,” said O’Leary.

As a team that’s main function is to develop talent for the NHL roster, the Wild allows fans to see some of the organization’s top prospects developing the talents that may take them to the highest level of American hockey.

When asked about who Wild fans should be excited about, McLean practically named the entire roster, indicating the wide range of talent Wild fans can expect to see on the ice in 2024. Some specific players mentioned were returning goalie Jesper Wallstedt and defensemen Daemon Hunt and Simon Johansson. If Hunt is with the team, McLean expects him to take on a leadership role. Team captain Dakota Mermis was mentioned by both McLean and O’Leary for his great ability on and off the ice.   

“We’ve got all these great, fantastic young players, and they’re going to get a chance to grow and to learn, and you don’t necessarily know which ones are going to rise to the top. That’s a really fun aspect of the job, seeing which players rise to the top and make that next step and help Minnesota win hockey games,” said McLean.

BRING ON THE BUCCANEERS

Last season, despite finishing three games under .500, the Des Moines Buccaneers made their way into the USHL Western Conference Playoffs. They came up against the Lincoln Stars, dropping both games and bowing out of the Clark Cup running.

The 2023-2024 season will be head coach Matt Curley’s third season in charge of the developmental franchise. This will also be Curley’s first full season as general manager after taking the reins partway through the 2022-2023 season.

The team’s leader in points from last season, Jak Vaarwerk, is missing from the preseason roster as of press time. Vaarwerk gathered 45 points and, by far, led the team in assists with 32, which is major offensive production the Buccaneers are going to need to recoup if they plan on returning to the playoffs. 

Luckily, their leading goal scorer from last season, Lubomir Kupco is on the preseason roster, as well as Christian Kocsis, who posted double digit numbers for both goals and assists.  

This type of roster turnover is something that both the Wild and Buccaneers have to manage day by day and year by year as franchises that mainly serve as developmental programs — especially for the Buccaneers, where players in the USHL are aged from 16-20. 

Off the ice, the Buccaneers are incredibly active within the community. The team completed more than 500 hours of community service, which included packing food at Meals from the Heartland each month, while also helping the youth hockey scene by coaching with the Des Moines Youth Hockey Association. ♦