Return of the Reaper

It has been an interesting week to say the least for the RHL Guelph Reapers. Very silently, almost unannounced, the Reapers who were facing contraction instead found that their teams old GM Steve Gandour has returned to handle the reigns to keep the Guelph team alive.

The return of the GM is not without controversy, having left on questionable terms abandoning the team. However the GM seems to have truly grown, taking responsibility for the absence, apologizing to the parties involved, and requesting specifically to return to the team he left a bit in shambles rather then requesting a new team.

The GM never held a press conference upon his re-hire, but allowed me the opportunity to a one on one interview after his first week on the job.

Sal: Let me start by welcoming you back to the RHL. What I want to know first is what made you leave in the first place?

Steve: Well Sal, while I would rather not discuss the mistakes I have made in the past, I will say that there was a series of circumstances in my personal life that left me without the passion I had for hockey initially. When conflicts arose in the RHL, I really didn't feel my heart was in the league and so I vacated my post. The issues in my life I am happy to say are resolved as much as can be, and I find myself with renewed eagerness for the upcoming season.

Sal: What has changed your mind about rejoining the RHL?

Steve: Initially to be honest I missed the league. I was surprised that with all the turmoil in my own life, the league that I felt I had no passion left for was on my mind a lot. I have made no secret that I found the RHL a very unique league, with a lot of Great Gms and special attractions. When the opportunity arose to return in any capacity, I lept at it.

Sal: That opportunity initially came in the form of an offer to be an advisor/assistant GM to Richard and Andy with the AVI. What made you decide to take that opportunity and how long were you considering it?

Steve: I was honoured when Richard contacted me about the position, as I have always enjoyed competing against him in several leagues spanning several years. I think I considered the offer for approximately two seconds before saying yes.

Sal: So what was your role with the Aviators along side Richard and Andy?

Steve: I won't discuss specifics, it would not be appropriate. I will merely say there was great communication in that organization, something I hope we can create here with the Reapers. They are both great hockey minds and I am proud to have had the opportunity to learn more about the RHL while working with them.

Sal: I know you won't say specifics, but in a more general way what did you take from that experience?

Steve: Only good things Sal. I may have enjoyed three years in the RHL before the fourth offseason turmoil in my own life, but I never fully had a grasp on the intricacies of the rules and the simulator, now I understand a lot more and feel more ready then ever to bring a championship to Guelph and specifically to the Reapers.

Sal: When did you first hear of the opportunity to return to your old club?

Steve: I had been in contact with the league about the vacancy with the Reapers. I had made it known I would be interested in resuming my duties with the club, since the league was facing a big time contraction year and was hopeful of maintaining a 24 team base. I figured the situation was more desireable to keep teams active then contract them. I got the word from Paul that he would let the league decide, and I was thrilled to be approved to rejoin the Reapers.

Sal: Your team currently sits at 16 and 33, yet in the final playoff spot. What can you hope to accomplish with such a rough season to date?

Steve: Well my timing for the return was just too late for the trade deadline. So with that passed, our options are a bit limited this season. Would we like to contend? You need only look at my team record in its first three years. We went from a laughing stock expansion team in year one, something all teams have to go through, to conference and league champs in year two, albeit in a split league RHL. In year three we once more were one of the top teams, and despite a horrible record this season, we could be a playoff team. To be realistic though, this is a team that needs to rebuild. We have done some good things already in this first week to start that process, but some big surprises are yet to come. Despite our inability to deal at this time, there are some changes coming to help this club for next year and beyond.

Sal: You are known as one of the most trade active GMs going. Did you regret not returning sooner to be able to take advantage of the trade deadline?

Steve: Of course I regret returning a bit too late to capitalize on the trade deadline. That said, the changes this team needs to make can be done in part without the deadline. A lot of our players are pending Free Agents. The ones we would like to have dealt were our pending UFAs. That list has gotten shorter in recent days. The pieces still on our team set to become unrestricted were the less desireable names, and likely we would not have gotten much of a return for them in way of draft picks etc. The remaining free agents are Restricted, and so we still can explore trade options or resign options. Really the set back missing the deadline is minimal.

Sal: Many fans in this market love you for bringing the expansion team to success so quickly, while many others despise you because you abandoned a team you had built and turned into a winner. To those fans, both, what do you say?

Steve: I would merely say to our fans, I hope you judge us by our product on the ice. To the fans who have remained loyal, your patience will be rewarded in short order. To those who are on the fence, or have left, well we hope you reconsider. This team was a contender quickly, and quickly it will be returned to contention status. You have my word on that.

Sal: Yesterday you made seemingly your first moves since returning to the role of GM as the Reapers. A few of those moves were vitoed by the league. Is that just a bit of rust? Or were you hoping to sneak something through?

Steve: Honestly Sal, I never even thought about those two moves in question being illegal. I saw Ty Conklin signed, and my first thought as a returning GM was, hmmm, maybe if i missed out on trades there is an avenue to improve in FA'cy during the season. After looking at the list, I found only two names I wanted to give a shot with this team, and signed them before thinking about the goalie rule. In fairness, when I left the team I had only two goalies. I did not even register about the two goalies who were signed by the league to fill out the roster in the offseason. Would I have liked to have given a shot to them? Yes. That said, the rules are there for a reason, to keep things fair and equitable. Though it may seem to have worked against us here, it actually works in our favour as well. We can not sign them, but neither can any other team now which means we can chose to pursue them again if we so wish in the offseason.

Sal: Would you have made an offer to Conklin if you had noticed his availability sooner?

Steve: I think I would have, but again with our goalie situation it would have been on hold for two days til a goalie was cut. Then after two days, it would have been past the trade deadline. Really it all comes down to timing, I joined just too late to capitalize on many things I would liked to have tried. Still, I feel I have a plethora of options still remaining, and am quite excited by all of them.

Sal: With no option left to sign UFAs, and no trading left, what kind of options have you excited?

Steve: It would be inappropriate to discuss at this time, but lets just say the culling of our roster is not yet done.

Sal: Rumours circulated that you were shopping some players the morning of deadline day. Was that your first official day back as GM?

Steve: I would say the day before the deadline was my first initial day back. I submitted some lines that sorely needed being submitted and began evaluating my team for next year. It is hard to make a 1 day evaluation after being out for near a year, but I did my best. I looked at how my team should look next year with changes, and then made public to the GMs a list of players I was willing to live without. Unfortunately I had just two replies before the deadline passed, and one was not an offer, only "i am interested in", The other offer just did not tempt me enough to make a move. By the end of the night, well after the deadline had passed, I had three new offers and four more communications that would have likely been worth exploration. That is the way it goes at times though.

Sal: With the moves you made yesterday, would you care to comment on the thought process that led to each decision?

Steve: The Andreychuk move is the simplest. We knew he was done at years end. We signed him for a purpose, to bring leadership to our squad, defensive stability and a great faceoff presence. Unfortunately he has suffered through injury all year and was not a useful asset for us. It was a tough decision for the character guy Dave is, but we hope some team gives him a new home. For our standpoint, we simply have no room for him anymore. The releasing of Adam Munro was a move designed to save decisions in the offseason. He was a upcoming RFA with no rate next year, we had no interest in keeping him so why even keep him now? Cleaning up the roster so to speak.

Sal: What about your two big re-signings of potential UFAs?

Steve: Those were the "no brainer" moves. Pavel Kubina has been with this organization since day one. He was our first drafted player, even before Krajicek. He has been our all time leader in points from the blueline... and he is only getting better. We want him here for as long as he wants to remain. The Straka move was also significant to us. It gives us a legit top line winger threat to compliment Doan. His demands were reasonable, and we are glad to bring him back for one more season.

Sal: You were known for your success at resigning your own UFAs. In past years it was Forsberg and Morozov and Korolyuk, Stevens and Miller. Now you add Straka and Kubina to that list. How do you get them to resign?

Steve: I think the players have to like their situation to stay. We just do our best to build an environment condusive to winning here, and then let them chose. So far, we have been very fortunate.

Sal: Thank you for this interview Steve, and good luck back at the helm of the Reapers.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan