As we have now passed the midway point of the SMJHL season, most Gms are planning the Mid season Press conferences. Here in Halifax things are no different. GM Dean Atkins will hold a press conference today and talk about the Halifax Raiders season, Rookies and Future.

What we know is that Halifax sits dead last in the league, 3 points behind Expansion team Lethbridge, has 14 rookies on the roster out of 22 roster spots. They have traded 3 players so far this season and received draft picks in return. While the plan is unclear, we see that there is a plan in place.

GM Dean Atkins walks up to the podium
“ Good afternoon everyone, Welcome to the Mid-season evaluation press conference, There’s a lot to get to and I know you all have a bunch of questions so please let me get through what I need to get through and then we can go from there. I want to start with our season as we are now 29 games in and obviously sit in last place. Our record isn’t great as we are 5-18-6 and honestly until a week ago we were still looking for our first win. We never came into this season expecting to be the elite of the league as we are in total rebuild mode. We went 14 games with out a win before beating Detroit in Regulation. During that time we collected 3 points from shootout games, had 9 one goal losses games that we felt could have gone our way. From Game one this team has been involved in more close games than 3/4 of the games we’ve played so far. We have been blown out but we have also held our own which to me is not bad considering we have 14 rookies on this team. The second half of the season we expect to be more competitive than the first. We do expect to have more than the 3 wins we had in the first 25 games and we already have 2 in the second half. That being said we don’t expect to climb to the top of the league, we just expect to do better.

The Raiders are starting to come together. Not to say that they weren’t as a team before, but on the ice things are getting better. Our Powerplay continues to be a strength, our Defense continues to grow stronger, Our offense is involving more of our rookies. Previous management made the decision to do a total rebuild from the ground up, and at the last draft they went to work rebuilding this team. Halifax currently has 14 Rookies on its roster, 14 guys drafted to this league and who are developing very well. We have a rookie starting goalie that has started 25 of our 29 games. That is a lot to ask of a rookie goalie but he has been all in since day one and doesn’t show any signs of being discouraged. He takes everyday in stride and is always ready to go. “

Centers Kholin and Matsson are gaining the coaches confidence more and more as the season progresses. Kholin has 7 goals and 7 assists so far this season. Half his points are coming off the Powerplay as he has 2 goals and 5 assists on the man advantage. He is 47.33% in the face-off circle having taken 600 face-offs. Matsson has 7 points, 3 goals and 4 assists all coming from 5 on 5 action. 54.11% in the far-off circle. Both are benign to establish themselves as solid centermen who can become elite in this league.

Wingers Outlaw, Scoreov, Slothface, Reynolds, Boone, Mouette, Paradise have been playing well. Outlaw and Slothface lead the team rookies in scoring with 13 points each. Both also play on the power play and have contributed with their ice time. Troy Reynolds has 6 points but has been gaining confidence and getting points the last few games. Gaspard Boone is a Free agent Centre that signed with the team 8 games ago and has been playing wing on the 3rd line. Boone has a goal in his first 8 games.

On defence the roster has a few rookies on the blue line. Morgan Perry, Andrej Doskocil, Dylan Karlsson, Touncie Bitties, as well as Free Agent Signing Ethan Ross, who was a highly sought after Free Agent. With the defense being so young, it was obvious that this team would be easy to beat at the beginning of the season. It was impressive that they were in as many games as they were with a young back line. However they are now showing signs of maturing into a solid back line getting better every game. Karlsson leads rookie Defenseman in scoring with 11 as the offensive defenseman has 8 points on the power play. Doskocil is second with 8 points while Perry Morgan is now playing top line minutes with Veteran Dominic Montgomery. Ethan Ross is the green one in the mix but is still doing well as he is a - 3 and has 1 point in 8 games averaging 18 minutes a game.

Dean Atkins continued “ The veterans on this team have been awesome on the ice. Our Captain has been a true leader on the ice and the locker room and I want to publicly thank Dominic Montgomery for the hard work he and the leaders of this team do. Justin Willis has been a great backup for us playing well when we needed him to. Choybuk and Faceoffs are great at helping our youth on the ice.

Now, the trades. I have heard the sports talk shows and read the papers saying we made a mistake not getting bodies back, or why trade them in the first place. We are a team that is rebuilding. We never wanted to trade our guys but we are looking to the future and the present. Rainbow Dash expressed the desire to have a genuine shot at a 4 star cup and honestly, we are not exactly the odds on favourite to win. With Muerto we felt that we could give his spot to a rookie and have him develop and get more ice time. Dzelme was on our 4th line. He deserved more than that but we had our rookie centerman that we did not want to take ice time away from. So we moved them for assets. Assets in the form of picks in future drafts. If I may, We have all our picks this draft. Add to that a 2nd from Anchorage and a 4th from St. Louis. In a 6 rd draft we now have 8 picks. We won’t need 8 picks, but we have them. S 47 draft we have all our picks. Add to that a #rd from Anaheim that can become a 2nd and a conditional 3rd from Detroit. Thats 8 picks in a 6 rd draft. S48 we also have all our picks minus our 4th that went to St.Louis. Add a 2nd from St. Louis, a 3rd from Anaheim that can become a 2nd. That’s 7 picks in a 6 rd draft. The future is solid in Draft picks. As long as our scouts do well and we draft well, Halifax will be consistently competitive. Now we just have to get through this rebuild which I promise will look a whole lot different next season. Questions?”

Reporter“ How can you Guarantee the team being competitive moving forward?”

D.A “ Like I said, as long as our scouts do well in their job and we draft well I see no reason to think otherwise. The Management team here is a solid group of people who are experienced at what they do so I know I can trust them in decision making when it comes draft time. If you can draft well, you’ll do well.”

Reporter “ What are you doing to make sure you have a better second half?”

D.A ” We’ve kept a strict training program for our rookies and it’s starting to pay off. I told this team on day one when I got here, We would be a different team by the end of the season and we are becoming that. It’s only normal that with training throughout a season and ice time you will learn and get better. That is the main reason I believe we will be better. Right now we are not the same team we were on day one of the season, and we expect to keep getting better.”

Reporter “ How big was it to get some free agents in your Locker room?”

D.A “ once we knew we were losing Rainbow Dash we started looking at some replacements. We say Gaspard Boone as a solid option and it would give us some depth moving forward both at centre and on the wing. Ethan Ross was just someone we took a shot at. I think the prospect of what could be accomplished here, being part of the team that went from last to contender is something that appeals to some players and I think he really wanted to be a part of that story.Both players were amazing pick ups and I can’t believe we got them.”

Reporter “ There are rumours of discontent players in the Locker room over Young Javi being cut. Some players threatening to leave the team, any truth to these rumours?”

D.A “in the words of a famous orange skin toned man, Fake news. Yung Javi was uninterested in training and we had a hard time getting him to be interested in the the team play. There was a lot of “me” in his attitude and we felt it was in the interest of our rookies to cut him from the team. As for players talking of quoting the team, No truth to it, maybe Reynolds because he hates Montreal but that’s about it. The locker room is pretty good right now and anyone that tries to ruin it with a negative attitude will be gone.”

Reporter “ Do you have any trade deadline plans?”

D.A “ We’ll see what’s out there. If we feel it benefits the team beyond this season, we’ll do it. We are in rebuild mode so I won’t trade our youth and rentals make no sense for us. So like I said, we’ll see what’s available.”

Reporter “ What are your realistic expectations for next season?”

D.A “ good question. To be honest, I expect this team to be better. I think out of 10 teams we should be pushing somewhere in the top 5 next season. I expect this teams to make a statement next season about who we are, that we are not pushovers, that we are the predators and not the prey. I believe in everyone of our players and I know they’ll be pushing to start next season with a bang, But before that, we want to end this season with one to. “