Calgary’s WHL team moves forward without bench boss Steve Hamilton, assistants Trent Cassan and Don MacGillivray
Published Mar 27, 2024 • Last updated 27 minutes ago • 5 minute read
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The Calgary Hitmen introduced Steve Hamilton as their 10th head coach at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on July 17, 2018. Hamilton’s contract will not be renewed, the team has announced. Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia file
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Garry Davidson wants a new voice for the Calgary Hitmen.
The Western Hockey League team’s general manager has made that clear after opting to move forward without head coach Steve Hamilton and assistants Trent Cassan and Don MacGillivray.
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The bench trio was told Tuesday their contracts — which expired this spring — would not be renewed in the major junior loop.
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“The fact that Trent has been here nine years and Steve six, I thought maybe part of it would be a fresh start — a new voice, so to speak — and bring something to the table that would enhance what we’re doing here as an organization,” said Davidson, who is in his first year as Hitmen GM.
“We want to enhance our players’ experience here.”
The move comes just three days after the Hitmen ended their regular season with a 28-31-9 record and missed the playoffs. The Calgary crew finished in ninth place in the Eastern Conference — two points behind the Prince Albert Raiders for the eighth and final post-season spot.
Under Hamilton, the team has missed the playoffs two of the last three seasons.
But he didn’t have much to work with in terms of high-end talent, and the club — which parted ways with then-GM Jeff Chynoweth last off-season — is amid a massive rebuild with a youth movement currently at hand.
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“There’s not one single thing,” said Davidson of what went into the decision to move on without Hamilton, Cassan and MacGillivray. “And certainly not making the playoffs, it wasn’t a part of it, to be honest. Because if it was, I would have put that forth that we’ve got to make the playoffs. So that certainly wasn’t a big-time goal, even though that was certainly something we’re trying to strive for to do to get that playoff experience.”
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Hamilton joined the Hitmen as bench boss in 2018 and compiled a 165-152-40 regular-season record.
During his tenure, the club advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2019 and made a first-round exit in 2023. The Hitmen also finished among the top eight teams in the conference in 2019-20 and in 2020-21, when post-seasons weren’t held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked for comment early Wednesday about the decision, Hamilton declined.
“Over the last couple of months, I really struggled with what we’re gonna do moving forward,” Davidson said. “But ultimately, I decided that probably we needed to make an adjustment with our staff.
“I just think whenever you’re looking at people, whether it’s a coach or a player, or a general manager, you’re trying to assess what they bring to the table — what are their strengths and weaknesses? And all three of these gentlemen have certainly have strengths.
“But I saw some shortcomings.”
Calgary Hitmen forward London Hoilett (right) battles Lethbridge Hurricanes defenceman Joe Arntsen at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023. Photo by Darren Makowichuk / Postmedia
Hitmen faced season of transition on the ice
In particular, this season — Davidson’s first as GM — was riddled with roster transition.
In moving to further the youth movement, the Hitmen traded away captain Tyson Galloway, sniper Sean Tschigerl and fellow veterans Carter MacAdams, Grayden Siepmann and London Hoilett.
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“Certainly, it was an ongoing season of evaluation for me,” Davidson said. “Throughout my career, I’ve always tried to sit back, evaluate and make sure that people are being given a fair opportunity to prove themselves, and so that was, of course in the season here.
“And it was a difficult season in the fact that we were going to go with a youth movement, which we certainly did. But not making the playoffs was a secondary or third goal probably in the whole process when you’re looking at what we were trying to do — build out a young team and grow them and have meaningful games till the end, which we did.”
The Hitmen hired Cassan as an assistant coach in 2016, while MacGillivray was brought on board in August 2023.
“The first thing is you’re dealing with good people,” Davidson said. “And that makes it really, really difficult. All three are good solid people.”
Davidson has already received resumés from the hockey world in his bid to hire a new coaching staff.
The GM says he has nobody in mind, at this moment and no timetable in place to name a bench crew.
Davidson served as the director of player personnel for the Hitmen from 2021 to 2023 before being named director of hockey operations and — ultimately — GM in November.
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Before that, he was director of player personnel for the Portland Winterhawks from 2008 to 2012 and GM of the Everett Silvertips from 2012 to 2021.
“For me, coaching in the Western Hockey League or junior hockey as a whole is such a tough thing because you coach every night to win,” added Davidson. “But what’s important is the development and the growth of the player. Because if we don’t grow players and make them better, who’s gonna want to come to our program?
“So for me, as we move forward here, the person that we put in place here has to really understand that and accept it. It’s not win at all cost every night, because then we’re going to come up short in the growth aspect. So I think it’s important this person understands that dealing with 16-to-20-year-olds is way different than it is dealing with 20-to-35-year-old pros.
“We’ll just take our time and weed through this and try to put together a good coaching staff here we feel confident can help us get to another level.”
LOOSE PUCKS
The 2024 WHL Draft Lotteries were conducted Wednesday to determine the order for the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft and the 2024 WHL U.S. Priority Draft. The lotteries involve the WHL’s six non-playoff clubs — the Kamloops Blazers, the Tri-City Americans, the Regina Pats, the Seattle Thunderbirds, the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Hitmen. The Hitmen, who finished sixth-last in the league, owned one of 21 lottery balls in a bid to luck in to the top overall pick in the prospects draft. For the American draft, they have an equal chance to grab the first choice as one of six teams with one ball each in the lotto … The WHL U.S. Priority Draft goes Wednesday, May 8 … The WHL Prospects Draft is set for Thursday, May 9.
tsaelhof@postmedia.com
http://www.x.com/ToddSaelhofPM
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