AHL Peoria Rivermen

Q & A With Kevin McDonald

Published on August 12, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Recently we had the opportunity to sit down with the Peoria Rivermen General Manager of Hockey Operations, Kevin McDonald. McDonald is responsible for facilitating the development of St. Louis Blues prospects with the Rivermen. He also serves as the Blues' Director of Professional Scouting, overseeing the department for the team.

We caught up with Kevin after a recent round of signings by the Blues as the team prepares to head into training camp this September.

Tom Callahan: Kevin, many season ticket holders wrote in asking about the current building process from the Blues standpoint with the Rivermen. With the team not making the playoffs for the last two seasons, what has St. Louis done to counteract that?

Kevin McDonald: Our team will be different. The AHL has an enormous amount of turnover every year, and this off-season has been no exception for us. We're excited about prospects like Ben Bishop, Jonas Junland, and T.J. Fast joining our returning core of young players from that spent a lot of time here last season - like Nikolay Lemtyugov, Charles Linglet, and Nicholas Drazenovic.

I think a big key to our off-season this year was that we tried to sign a different type of free agent. This year we got Mike Weaver, Brad Winchester, and Steve Regeir who spent every minute in the NHL last season. We also picked up Matt Foy and Andy Wozniewski, who are NHL experienced guys as well. We tried to get players who are younger and hungrier. Guys who can compete for and try to win a spot in St. Louis at training camp this year. Maybe if they win a spot they push another player down to Peoria this season.

TC: Let's talk more about those Blues draft picks. Who among them can Rivermen fans expect to see this year?

KM: Jonas Junland is a highly touted prospect from 2006 who has played for the Swedish national team and at the World Junior Championships as well. He's committed to coming over and staying in North America as a 20-year-old, trying to win a spot in St. Louis in camp.

Ben Bishop was a draft pick from 2005 who spent the last three seasons at the University of Maine before turning pro, and we like what we've seen from him after he came to Peoria late last season.

Patrick Berglund and T.J. Oshie are both turning pro this year and trying to make the Blues out of training camp, but if they need more seasoning before sticking with St. Louis they'll definitely play in Peoria.

The following season Lars Eller is in the pipeline to come over, but this season he's staying in Sweden. Other players in the pipeline include Ian Cole, Aaron Palushaj, and Cade Fairchild who are all entering their sophomore years of college. This is the last year of junior for Anthony Peluso as well.

TC: You mentioned the Blues wanting to sign a different type of player. Can you expand on that more?

KM: When we went to look at guys this year, we wanted to focus on skating ability, size, and guys who are a little bit younger and still have that "NHL Dream" ahead of them. Regeir and Cam Paddock are both 24, Foy is 25, and even Tyson Strachan is just 23. Look at Fast, a 20-year-old that we traded for to fill a prospect spot for this season. We'd like to see him become Peoria's next Steve Wagner or Roman Polak-type player. There's definitely a need to have those guys in the organization who are developing and playing at this level to gain experience by playing in the top two defensive pairings and seeing time on special teams.

TC: Looking at last year's team, the Rivermen had a solid rookie corps that included Julian Talbot, Nicholas Drazenovic, Chris Porter, and Nikolay Lemtyugov. Where are these players in terms of their development?

KM: All of them are in a different place this year after having a season in the AHL under them. When you look at a player like Lemtyugov and what he did last season... scoring 22 goals as a first-year guy was impressive. Now he needs to move up to a different level, a place where he becomes that first call-up for St. Louis and can play between five and 30 games there during the season.

Chris Porter had a phenomenal rookie season, and he'll be pushing for a spot in training camp this year in St. Louis.

Drazenovic did well considering his tough start last year with injuries and recovering from illness. He missed all of training camp and still had 42 points on the year. Nic is a very talented player who from this camp forward is pushing for a spot on the Blues, or to be the first or second guy called up. He'll start in a higher-importance role this year and we'll see how he adapts to the responsibility.

Julian Talbot was a great story last year with 24 goals and 50 points in addition to a great plus minus. Getting a full season in the AHL last year was key for his experience level. Julian is a hard worker and conscientious person; he's embraced the Blues training program and wants to get bigger, stronger and faster. He's working hard to take that next step.

Ryan Reaves is another player who was hampered by injuries last season, starting the year off with one and heading to Alaska and working his way to Peoria. He has tremendous size and is an unbelievable hitter who plays a different role. This year he has to become an every day player at the AHL level.

TC: How will this year's defense stack up to previous editions?

KM: This year we're going to me much younger on the blue line. When you lose players like Alex Brooks, Micki DuPont, and Aaron MacKenzie, that's a ton of experience gone. Those guys were good leaders and high end players. But we've made a lot of changes and are excited about the group we have coming in this season. Tyson Strachan showed last year that he's a legitimate NHL prospect, and it's great to have him back. He's 6-3, 225 pounds, plays smart, moves the puck well, and shows team toughness. That's every ingredient we're looking for.

Fast and Junland are good puck movers as well, and can play the power play to help get the puck up front to the forwards. It's going to be one heck of a battle at St. Louis training camp this year for defensive spots. They have probably 9 - 10 guys competing for seven spots.

When we signed Weaver and Wozniewski, we signed them to come in and try to make the Blues. If they do, they'll push another good player down to Peoria, and that was our goal (with the signings).

TC: With the addition of Ben Bishop and the departure of Hannu Toivonen and Jusso Riksman, where would you rate the club in goal this year?

KM: One positive is we're younger, hungrier, and more stable. We've gone through a lot in net the last couple of years. We had the early season trade of Jason Bacashihua, an experienced guy who is a quality goaltender. And then some other things happened.

But now we have two young, hungry guys that have a lot of responsibility this season. If you look at a goaltender like Pekka Rinne from Milwaukee, he is a young guy who has spent the last two seasons really proving himself in the AHL and got moved up at the end of last season. That's what we'd like to see from our goaltending this year. We're a lot more stable at the position than last season.

As far as Ben Bishop goes, we're hoping to see more of what we saw from him at the end of the season to help solidify the goaltending.

Marek Schwarz is still young, too. His draft class (2004) for goaltenders hasn't seen much time in the NHL yet. Of the top six goaltenders taken that year, he's the only one to play in the NHL so far. Goalie is the toughest position to play and develop. He's on track but sometimes the struggle is just as beneficial to the learning process as the early success he had as a rookie. It does take time and it is a process. We're aggressive in terms of the AHL by having a goaltending coach (Dave Rook) come in and work with the guys as frequently as we do.

Goaltenders like a Carey Price who come in as rookies and steal the spotlight in the AHL or make their mark in the NHL are just so rare. They're exceptions, not the rule. Most goaltenders need plenty of time to develop.

TC: Davis Payne is Peoria's new head coach - why did the Blues pick him?

KM: We've known Davis since he started working with the Blues in Alaska (Aces - ECHL). When you look at his track record and history of success in terms of winning and developing players, we felt he was an obvious candidate. As we kept looking when the job was open and we talked about type of team we were going to have, young guys and prospects to develop, we agreed that we wanted to have a young, hungry, aggressive coach. At the end of the day, there was no better choice to lead these guys who want to be NHL players than to have a young, hungry, driven guy who wants to get there himself.

The AHL is geared so much to teaching, and I think Davis' history in the ECHL speaks for itself. He's done a lot of his work without the benefit of an assistant coach, which is also something we did not overlook. He has a ton of experience as a teaching coach and in developing players. Look at the guys on our roster he's had a hand in, players like Talbot, Charlet Linglet, Chris Beckford-Tseu, and a bunch of other players.

TC: What will change for the Rivermen under the leadership of SCP Worldwide and the Blues?

KM: Honestly not much will change. Bruce Saurs and Anne Griffith showed they were committed to the fans in Peoria and in keeping the best product on the ice that they could. The Blues ownership will have the same criteria as they move forward. There will be more opportunities to combine things between the teams, starting with three days of Blues training camp here in Peoria and the Blue/White game October 3. In the future, maybe there's a possibility of the Rivermen playing a game in St. Louis or playing a Blues pre-season game in Peoria.

On the ice, this year's squad would have gotten younger regardless of who owned the team. We want to create an exciting environment for our fans. We want Rivermen Hockey to remain the place to be all winter long.

Keeping a guy like Yan Stastny is proof of the value that Peoria has to the blues as an AHL franchise. He's played the last two seasons here and we got to know him while he got to know us and prove himself. It's a great statement that a guy who's played 12 games in two years with the Blues received a one-way contract. We have confidence in him as a player based on his last two seasons in the organization. We don't have to sign a free agent to win a roster spot because he's been developing here. We're staying in-house and giving guys a chance to get to the NHL through working their way up.

In a way, Stastny embodies the whole relationship between the teams. Any Murray (Blues head coach) being able to come down and scout players, John Davidson (Blues President/CEO) comes up to Peoria... the AHL coaching staff is able to talk to the NHL coaches on things, such as how important Yan Stastny is to the team. It's easier to compare a player like Yan to other players in free agency when we know him so much better. We want to win and have a major commitment to develop talent and promote players to the NHL.

TC: Thanks for your time, Kevin

KM: You're welcome.

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American Hockey League Stories from August 12, 2008


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