Interview With The Coach

Notes from the interview with Killer on The TEAM 1200/Dean Brown and Bruce Garrioch this afternoon.

Killer said that Wharton spoke with both himself and Jeff Hunt yesterday. Wharton said that instead of waiting, he would rather go ahead with the trade so that he could get up to the Soo in order to meet the team and get playing. He will be in their line up tonight. Wharton felt that his style of play was curtailed in Ottawa – he is more of an offensive defenceman, and he was not able to play this style. The team required straight defence.

David Jarram will be flying to Ottawa from the Soo today, and he will be at the game tonight – though not in the line up. Killer said it wasn’t fair to expect the new guy to travel all day and then play that night. So he will watch. Killer said that he watched Jarram play twice – he is impressed with his enthusiasm [like Bonello, I wonder?] and his physicality.

When asked if the other guys on the team should be concerned that Wharton has been traded, Killer said yes. He said that players must realize that their performance has not been good in the first half. If Kyle Wharton can be moved, and he being such a good defenceman, they’d better realize that if they’re not performing they could be moved as well.

Killer did say that other plans are definitely in the works. He said that a piece of the puzzle is still missing, and that they are still working on a couple of things. He said that they are limited by the number of cards they hold, but that he does anticipate more changes. “Something else will happen, we’re just waiting to see if rosters stay the same.” He said he won’t comment on anything because of a number of reasons: the league must have final approval and they have limited hours right now due to the holiday season, a number of teams have players away at World Juniors and Under 17, injuries could come up that would prevent the player from being traded. Killer said that the team is missing 5 players right now: 2 at the World Juniors (Kaspar, Petruzalek), 2 at the Under 17 (McGinn, Lahey), and now Wharton. He said he doesn’t want to gamble with potential points.

Some good news: Reid will be back tonight. He got clearance and felt good yesterday. He will get his feet wet a little at first. Killer said that the team has really missed him, both on the ice and in the room.