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Wolves GM Wendell Young on Shipachyov, Theodore, Changing Goalies on Fly

October 27, 2017, 3:55 PM ET [0 Comments]
Sheng Peng
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HockeyBuzz: You've had such a remarkable career. You're the only man who's won the Memorial Cup, Calder Cup, Turner Cup, and Stanley Cup. From Al MacInnis to Mario Lemieux to Jaromir Jagr, you've also played with about a dozen Hall of Famers.

But looking over your career, the one question that I have to ask is what was it like to be a goalie for Mike Keenan in the '80s?


Wendell Young: (laughs) Well, first of all, being on all the championship teams...I should buy a lottery ticket, I was in the right place at the right time. I've been really fortunate in my career.

Playing for Mike Keenan was interesting. Mike's old school. Very aggressive speaking to his players. This day and age, things are different.

Mike wasn't that different from most coaches back then. He was hard to play for. He expected the best. Now it's more, you have to rub guys' backs and hug them to play instead of giving them a kick in the butt to play.

At one time, you told a player to go into the corner to get the puck, he'd just go do it. Now, a player wants to know why and what's going to come out of it and what do we do after. I'm not saying it's wrong, it's just different.

You have to change with the times. A coach has to change with the times. Even as a GM, you don't go looking for tough guys anymore because they basically don't exist anymore.

So was Mike the hardest coach that you've played for?

There were a lot of hard coaches. They were the boss. They got to scream. That's what they did.

Whether Mike's motivation was to get the players to hate him so much to prove him wrong or just get so mad you went out with a ball of energy, whatever's Mike's motivation was, he was successful.

In a 1992 Penguins contest, Scotty Bowman decided to alternate you and Kenny Wregget every five minutes in a game. He said that he wanted to get you both playing time before the playoffs. At one point, you guys even changed on the fly.

Why didn't he just play you for half the game and then put in Wregget, like a normal person would have?


WY: That's Scotty. Scotty wanted to do different things. He wanted to be that guy. Scotty's an innovator. He comes up with rule changes and things we should try.

Players were laughing. I said, "Hey, while you're laughing, let's put some money up. Because you know what? Wreggs and I are going to change on the fly." And the guys were like no way. So I said, "Put some money up."

Of course, Scotty reiterated [the plan] in the pre-game, right after warm-up, and guys were laughing again. I said, "Boys, here's the deal. I'm going to change with Wreggs. I'm going to high five and low five him. I'm going to moonwalk back to the crease." So more money was thrown into the pot.

Get to the third period, we're coming up the ice with the puck. So I jump over and I'm yelling at Wreggs to change. I go to high five him, I look up the ice, and we gave the puck up. Here comes Messier with the puck on a 3-on-1.

You can actually YouTube it. You can't see us changing, and all of sudden, there's Young in the goal.



I wish they would have had the camera on us changing. Because I swear Messier must have skated by Wreggs. We had too many men on the ice. Because Wreggs didn't hear me until I got in the circle.

We're like folklore now. People bring it up, somebody asks, "When did goalies ever change on the fly?" And I say, "I know I've done it. In Madison Square Garden." (laughs)

HB: Did you manage to moonwalk?

WY: No, I didn't get that far. Because I ended up turning around, and they're coming up with the puck. I think I got a high five out of it. It was more panic, trying to get back to the goal.

When Wreggs got to the bench, Scotty was pumped up. He was excited because we did it. Some of the players didn't even notice. But Scotty was like, "They did it! They did it!" He was excited about it.

HB: So the on-the-fly part shouldn't have happened? That was just because of the bet?

WY: Well, to change every five minutes, you could tell the game wasn't important. So for me to say, Wreggs and I are going to change on the fly, that was just adding to it. Let's do something different. We're changing every five minutes, let's not even wait for a whistle. Let's just do it.

HB: How much did you win?

WY: There had to be close to a grand on the table. Collected after the game. We paid for drinks that night.

HB: Did Scotty ever explain this manuever further?

WY: He just wanted to be different.

Think back, he put Coffey at forward, Fedorov on defense.

That's Scotty Bowman. That's the way I've chalked it up.

HB: And you guys won the Stanley Cup anyway.

WY: We had a fun team. On and off the ice. We had a really close, fun team.

HB: You played for the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992-93. The next season in Tampa Bay, you played a handful of games with Gerard Gallant. What are your memories of Gerard? Could you see back then that he would become coaching material?

WY: Oh, 100%. Gerard is probably one of the most dedicated hockey guys, one of the greatest guys you want to play with. He was all about "team."

Quality guy, quality player. You could tell that he was a team guy who loved the game.

Him being a great coach doesn't surprise me. There's guys that you wonder if they could be coaches? Gerard would never be one of those guys.

His success is not a surprise at all.

HB: Your nickname is the "Ringmaster" for all your championship rings. I'm going to assume Stanley is your favorite. What's your second favorite and why?

WY: It's hard to say. Of course, the Stanley Cup because every kid grows up and thinks about winning the Stanley Cup.

You always think when you're growing up, I'd love to win the Stanley Cup. Or you'd buy a lottery ticket, thinking I'd love to win the lottery. But deep down, you don't really think you're going to win.

Now with the [other] Cups, every one has a different thing. The Memorial Cup was unique because you're limited by age. The oldest you could be was basically 20, 21. That's probably the toughest to win because once you hit 20 years old, you're done. You have three or four chances. Not only do you have to win your league, you have to win the championship of another tournament.

Then I win [an AHL] championship in Hershey. We go 12-0 in the playoffs. We don't lose a game. So that's unique.

And then coming to Chicago with the Wolves and the great organization we have here and winning a Cup in the "I." Winning the Turner Cup, which kind of finished [my playing career] off.

I couldn't trade one or the other.

HB: On to the Wolves, who you've GM'ed since 2009. Will Shipachyov play for the Wolves today?

WY: He's not going to play tonight. He's scheduled to play tomorrow night.

HB: As much as you can, what can you say about this saga? He's reported to Chicago before but didn't stay. Now he's here, but he will play.

WY: I think it's been difficult on him. You come over here, especially with the kind of career he's had in the KHL, playing with Kovalchuk and everything.

I don't know if he realized how hard it is to play in the NHL. I think he's taken back a little bit by being sent to the Chicago Wolves.

But at the same time, he's got to prove himself. From what I've seen, and this is just my view, this isn't the Vegas staff view, he wasn't putting out as much as he could in practice. That's what I've seen in scrimmages and stuff.

Come here [to Chicago], play some games, and God knows what's going to happen after that.

HB: Tracking back, are you saying that Shipachyov needs to improve his practice habits? How many practices of his have you watched?

WY: It didn't seem like he was...he wasn't as focused in practice as I think you need to be. Because every practice, there's something happening, there's a theme to it, or the coaches are trying to accomplish something. I don't think that [focus] was there.

That's just my view as an outsider from what I've seen. I think he's gotta get the focus back on hockey.

I've probably seen about 10 practices. Not with us. I'm saying with Vegas. I've been out to training camp. Exhibitions. I've been around the team a bunch.

There's always a reason why a player is in the American Hockey League. Whether it's not skilled enough, not working hard enough, not listening, rehab, whatever. Everybody down here is down here for a reason.

Of course, Shipachyov has the skill. So why is he here? We're trying to get that back, so he can have an NHL career.

HB: In the brief time you've known him, and given the language barrier, what has his attitude toward his demotion been? "Unfocused" seems to be the word.

WY: Yeah. Again, here's somebody coming into a new country. You have to give him some slack for lack of a better word. There's a language barrier, he's coming into a new country.

It's tough on anybody, I don't care how old you are.

New situation. Smaller rinks. Different teachings. Different ways to play the game. There's a lot that happens.

It's tough for somebody to come in to be able to handle all that.

Maybe his adjustment period wasn't as easy as people thought it might be.

HB: Will his translator be with him full time in Chicago?

WY: I don't think so.

Our coach and me today, we had to have one of our other Russian players talk to him.

HB: That would be St. Louis prospect Ivan Barbashev, right?

WY: It was Barbashev and we have a kid on an American League deal, Osipov. So we have two translators. (laughs)

HB: How did the talk go with him today?

WY: It was good. It was good. He was here, he'll be ready to play tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

HB: A couple less talked-about Vegas prospects are Jake Bischoff and Tobias Lindberg. At their best, what kind of game do they provide? And what do you think that they need to work on to make the leap to the NHL?

WY: I think with Bisch, it's just getting some experience.

You look at certain players and you can tell if they've got it. He looks like a player that's got "it." He skates well, moves the puck well. It's just getting more experience at the pro level.

He reminds me a lot of Vince Dunn who plays in St. Louis. We had him for over a year here. Same type of swagger. Same kind of thing, moves the puck. Sees the ice.

He's a player like Dunn who cracked the line-up in St. Louis after only one year with us. I think Bisch has a really good future.

Tobias, we've only had him for a week. He can skate. He's more of a third, fourth liner type guy with energy, with some skill.

HB: I'm going to put you a bit on the spot here: Do you think Shea Theodore is a top-four NHL defenseman right now?

WY: Yep. Because of his skating, because of his shot, because of his offensive ability. He sees the puck, he moves the puck. That's why he's a top-four right now. He's here because of the CBA.

HB: What kinks are there to iron out in his game?

WY: He's got some things to work on defensively. He's got to be more attentive defensively. He's got to pick the right times to take off sometimes. That's just the learning process.

And sometimes in the AHL, guys are trying to do too much. Then you see guys go the NHL, and they're very successful, because maybe there's more structure. Again, you're in the AHL because you make more mistakes. In the NHL, there's more structure.

Some players are better NHL players than AHL players.

But Shea Theodore, he's a top-four right now, absolutely.

***

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