Setting the stage in Sudbury


By
June 22, 2017

They returned to the playoffs in 2016-2017 after sitting them out for two successive seasons. As the stage is set in Sudbury with new direction and a fresh script, the Wolves are emerging from the Ontario Hockey League wilderness.

It’s been a year of new ownership led by the vision and forward thinking of white-shirt, blue-jean native son Dario Zulich.

It’s been a year of on-the-job training in hockey operations for passionate, persistent general manager Rob Papineau.

There’s a new head coach in place, with the cerebral Cory Stillman, a veteran of 1,000 games as a National Hockey League forward, ready to implement structure and put an emphasis on skill, systems, and discipline into the Wolves den.

As fans in the northern Ontario hockey capital yearn for a winner, not to mention a new arena, the Wolves have the advantage of competing in the easier-living Eastern Conference where 61 points in 68 games earned them sixth place in a 10-team membership in 2016-2017.

At a glance and with consideration given to other teams in the Eastern Conference, the Wolves have appearances of being a .500 team or better in 2017-2018.

Between the pipes, former eighth-round pick Jake McGrath became the no. 1 goalie as a 1999 birth-year rookie under baptism of fire in 2016-2017. And the projection is that the slender tender will be one of the league’s best in 2017-2018.

There is a defensive zone under construction with 1998 birth-year veteran Reagan O’Grady in command of a corps that includes 2000 birth-year plum Owen Lalonde.

And up front, the Wolves will return their top three scorers from 2016-2017 led by 48-goal slinger Dmitry Sokolov and backed by David Levin and Macauley Carson. Meanwhile, the fourth-leading scorer from 2016-2017, Ryan Valentini looms as a potential overage standout.

And let’s not forget twin terrors Darian Pilon and Drake Pilon of Sault Ste. Marie, who can add sizzle and spice to the Sudbury forward lines. Properly harnessed, the peppery Pilons can provide the Wolves with a pair of shutdown, wild-card skaters who can create havoc and invoke opposition panic.

The Wolves do have some summer business of extreme importance to take care of before the arrival of the 2017-2018 season.

Papineau and Stillman are in the process of reviewing a crew of candidates for the associate coach position.

As Papineau runs references, he has made it clear that Stillman will have the final say on who the new associate coach will be.

“Cory is the one who will be spending 10 to 12 hours a day with the associate coach and Cory has to be comfortable with who we bring in,” Papineau told HockeyNewsNorth.com. “We are being thorough in going through the process but at the end of the day, Cory will have the last say.”

PHOTO: Sudbury Wolves general manager Rob Papineau (left), welcoming new head coach Cory Stillman at his May hiring.


What you think about “Setting the stage in Sudbury”

  1. I can see the Wolves getting 70-75 pts this comming season. McGrath is the real deal in the nets and hopefully Stillman lives up to his rep and coaches the Wolves to the next level of the Standings.

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