\u2018Really Close-Knit Staff\u2019<\/p>\n
The impact of interpersonal relationships among coaches on an NHL staff is not to be underestimated. It\u2019s a credit to Lambert\u2019s created staff camaraderie that he not only didn\u2019t know Taylor, he also had no prior personal connection to retained assistant coach Jessica Campbell, defensive\/penalty kill-oriented assistant coach Aaron Schneekloth, promoted goalie coach Colin Zulianello, or Justin Rai in his newly created director of player strategy role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a really good group,\u201d said Taylor, an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils the last five seasons after three winning years as head coach of American Hockey League\u2019s Rochester franchise. \u201cLane is very open. He’s a communicator, which is great. He shares everything. He wants us to share everything back and just have an open dialogue. We\u2019ve become a really close-knit staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor has particularly meshed with Rai as they team up working on player development at the NHL level with young players newer to the league but also veterans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love his work and approach,\u201d said Taylor about Rai. \u201cHe’s a really good person and it\u2019s great to have him be part of the coaching staff. I think he’s going be a huge asset in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting on the Offensive with Beniers<\/p>\n
Matty Beniers is arguably playing the best hockey of his NHL career over the last month. He scored his 10th goal Saturday, this one by getting net front, staying there and not giving ground or giving up when his first close-in shot hit the post. The 23-year-old has notched six goals and seven assists for 13 points in his last 14 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been working with him individually a lot right now, just looking at his video,\u201d said Taylor. \u201cWe know he is a 200-foot player. We\u2019re trying to get more of an offensive aspect out of him, being creative, because he’s got that creative mind. He knows where to go on the ice. He thinks the game very well. I was a centerman too. We can help him out with those situations and the creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just how does creativity factor into the individual work with Beniers, or Berkly Catton, or Shane Wright?<\/p>\n
\u201cJust attacking inside, more, using the other four people on the ice, how Matty can create space for himself and create space for others,\u201d said Taylor referring specifically to Beniers. \u201cHe’s doing a really good job. We count on him a lot, even his face offs, it’s working on that with him. He\u2019s thriving. He’s a good, really good young player. He’s just going to keep getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMatty’s a very coachable person. That’s what I love about him. First and foremost, you have to be very coachable and have a growth mindset. He has that growth mindset. He is very open-minded with me. We have good communication. He shares what he thinks, I share what I think … To get more offense from him, that’s what he wants and he’ll create more offense for his line mates as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
To this reporter, Beniers looks to be faster this season and shooting more. Taylor didn\u2019t dismiss the observation. He explained why fans might be thinking the same thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s getting to the spaces better,\u201d said Taylor. \u201cHe’s cutting his routes better. He’s anticipating a lot more. He’s transporting the puck very well and using his line mates to create space for them. That’s big.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s attacking more [with shots at the goal]. He’s getting better looks just because of the positions he’s putting himself into. With him and Ebs [Jordan Eberle] together for the whole year, it creates that bond and creates that chemistry between the two of them. Ebs has been in this league a long time. He’s helping too. We\u2019ve had some line meetings with them, which I think has really helped them out. It’s their imagination. It’s their skill. How can they manipulate the game a little bit more that they’ll create more offense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Really Close-Knit Staff\u2019 The impact of interpersonal relationships among coaches on an NHL staff is not to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-422052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}