Sheng Peng
DETROIT — Safe to say, PWHL San Jose GM-Coach Troy Ryan was thrilled with how his inaugural draft turned out.
With the first draft pick in franchise history, star forward-defender Laila Edwards fell to No. 4.
“She’ll be a special part of San Jose, both on and off the ice,” Ryan said. “I don’t think you can find a better player to start a new franchise.”
Ryan also came out with Tia Chan, rated one of the best goalies in the draft, to form a potentially rock-solid tandem with veteran Corinne Schroeder.
And complementing Edwards and top-four veteran defender Rory Guilday, Ryan finished his draft with a fistful of forwards, center Sloane Matthews, Lily Shannon, and Mckenna Van Gelder, and winger Reichen Kirchmair.
Ryan spoke for 15 minutes after the draft on all his picks, how he plans to use the versatile Edwards, who else he might have considered at No. 4, if he feels good up the middle with Expansion Foundational Offer center Kristin O’Neill and his three new pivots, and more.
Troy Ryan, on whose idea it was to have USA coach John Wroblewski join ex-Canada coach Ryan onstage to announce a pick:
I’m not sure. I was a little surprised, but we just had fun with it. I don’t know if you noticed, but I slipped him a little butt-end with the stick that I had, so just tried to have some fun with it, but that was good.
Ryan, on if he was surprised that Edwards was available:
We were very excited about it. We did try to walk through some scenarios, and that was one of the scenarios. I know there was obviously a lot of connections with Las Vegas and (Tessa) Janecke, and we thought that was something that would possibly unfold. So we were prepared to have Edwards available, and we were prepared for her not to be available, but very, very happy the way it unfolded.
Ryan, on what Edwards adds:
Wow. Well, what doesn’t she add? Someone with the ability to play forward, the ability to play defense, the ability to be on a power play. She’s obviously won at every level she’s played at. The charisma, the character. What a fun, great athlete to start a franchise with. I think she’ll be a special part of San Jose, both on and off the ice, and honestly, I don’t think you can find a better player to start a new franchise.
Ryan, on balancing whether Edwards will play defense or forward, with her Team USA defensive responsibility:
It’s a conversation you have with her. You understand they have goals to do the best they can with their national team, and part of my job is to help her develop as much as I can as an athlete. That’s something you work with her on. I know I’ve seen some stories, and I’ve heard her comments before, and I think she’s very open to both, but ultimately wants to keep improving on the back-end, so she can do the best for her national team. A good part of my job as both a GM and a coach, is to help set her up for success for that, and to be honest, I think it’s fun. There’s just not a lot of athletes, especially at the pro level, that can be that versatile. So, I think it’s going to be a fun thing to play around with a little bit.
We obviously haven’t had a chance to chat too much about it, but I honestly don’t think it’s even as rigid as one game she plays defense, the next she plays forward. It could happen within games that she plays a little bit of both. We’re far away from playing games right now, so some of her strategy would not be worked out, but it’ll be definitely a collaboration with her and talking about what she thinks is best, and ultimately what’s best for our team as well.
Ryan, on the tactical advantage of Edwards being able to switch back and forth in a single game:
I think it’s fun. There’s very few players that are that versatile. I think it’d be exciting. Even stuff like power play, I can see her at times being on the back-end on the power play, I can also see her being off hitting one-timers on the power play as well. So just to have that flexibility and see how it translates to the professional game, it’s exciting. It’s a great spot to be as a player, but a great spot for me as a coach to have someone like that that I can lean on.
Ryan, on drafting mostly forwards, whether that was PWHL San Jose’s plan:
A lot of times you have a little bit of a plan, you got a plan in mind, you got your board, but you let the draft take you a little bit where it’s going to take you. We did sign a few more defenders through the expansion process, so we’re quite comfortable with who we had. We were going to take some defenders later in the rounds, but there was a couple players that were available that we thought we would jump at. And we think we possibly can still get some of those players – those defenders that we’re looking for – possibly in the next free agency phase, but also as some invites for a training camp. So I think we’ll be able to fill out a pretty good roster.
Ryan, on no trades on the draft floor this year:
There was a couple that just happened right before it, but nothing official. I know there was some talk, nothing really happened. There was nothing big that came our way. I think there were some options early. We were in a situation, we didn’t want to give up that first pick. When we thought we had a chance to get Edwards, we were keeping that for sure.
Ryan, on if he got trade offers for Edwards or the No. 4 pick:
It wasn’t specific for Edwards, it was more for the pick and not something that was highly considered when we knew that she would possibly be available. That’s who we want to start the franchise with.
Ryan, on the identity he wants to build for PWHL San Jose, his seeming emphasis on two-way play:
There’s a group of players that are all sort of from the same age range. A lot of the players in the expansion are not young, but not old, they’re in that middle age. A lot of them have played a key role in their team, but maybe behind some other key players. So a little bit of curiosity in an expansion situation, what they can do with a little bit more opportunity. I think there may be some sneaky offense in there somewhere. Whether it all surfaces is yet to be determined, but I’m pretty confident some of it will surface, but they’re also responsible players as well.
Ryan, on if he was looking to draft a goaltender to pair with Schroeder, and on Chan:
Not necessarily. We didn’t go into the draft thinking we got to draft a goalie early. As an expansion team, we only have the one that we were able to sign so far. We obviously have some that we can sign in free agency. But as the draft went, we still saw some players on the table that were going to be available later, and just thought, what an opportunity to take someone of that caliber at that point in the draft.
So, if anything in my time in the PWHL, it tells me how important goaltending is as an expansion team.
So, the opportunity to get someone like that, we got a more experienced goalie in Schroeder right now, but now adding Chan just gives us an opportunity to add some youth that we can potentially build with. Hopefully, they work well together, and they learn from each other.
Ryan, on how he sees himself using Edwards:
It’s a little different, but I love the versatility that she brings. I think there’d be a lot of collaboration with her. Obviously, she registered or declared as a defender, that’s obviously a priority with her national team. Part of my job is to help develop her to be the best player she can be for her country, but I love the fact that it can be a little bit of both. To play her a little bit up front, not even just at times within a game, being able to adjust, there’s very few people at the pro level in any sport that can do that, multiple positions. It’ll be a lot of fun to work with her and figure out what’s best for her.
Ryan, on winning the No. 4 pick in the draw:
I think we’re really confident that there’d be a good player available. I don’t think we automatically assumed that it would be Edwards. We thought there was a chance there that it could be Janecke, she would have been a good selection as well. I think we also assume that there’s some good connections with Janecke with Las Vegas, so we anticipated her possibly getting the third pick—something we kind of problem-solved last night—pretty easy decision. Janecke was taken third, we knew exactly the direction we wanted to go.
Ryan, on selecting Edwards at that point:
Originally, Vegas wouldn’t have been ahead of us. They got ahead of us because of the Hilary Knight trade [with PWHL Detroit], so that kind of changed the dynamics a little bit.
Honestly, if you told me when I first accepted this job that I’d be able to draft Edwards in the first round, I’d take it and be really happy. Honestly, I can’t think of a better player to start a franchise with than Laila Edwards, so we’re ecstatic to be able to have her and to have her in San Jose.
Ryan, on who was sitting with him, helping him out:
It’s actually cool. Obviously, this all kind of happened really quick, right? Part of my job as the general manager is to build out a hockey operations staff. [But] one of the first things we did as soon as I got hired was the announcement. Then it was the expansion process, so you kind of almost put the hiring of staff on the back burner.
What I asked the league was, was it possible to hire some consultants. Matt Desrosiers is the head coach of Clarkson University, Chris MacKenzie’s the head coach of UConn. They both are people that I’ve worked with in the past, they agreed to come on board for a month to just help with some decisions. Thought it would be the best way to do it, instead of scrambling to find, put together a staff.
[Instead] hire people that are actively involved at the NCAA level, have recruited these players since they were 15, 16, years old, so they have a really good understanding of the players. I have a pretty good understanding of the players. That draft would not be as successful if it wasn’t for those two people — being able to pick their brains, to be able to tap into the knowledge they have of the players’ families, their background, all those things were so valuable for me.
Ryan, on his experience at the draft as PWHL San Jose GM-coach versus just a coach:
Well, I’ve said this to a few people not here tonight, but it’s all GM right now, because there’s no coaching to be done, so I don’t feel like it’s even a dual role yet. The summertime will be all GM work, it’ll be helping build a hockey operations staff, drafting players, selecting players in the expansion process. As we get closer to the season, then it’s more the dual role, and I’ll have to put on the coaching hat a little bit more, but right now it’s kind of all business as GM.
Ryan, about Sloane Matthews at No. 16:
She is one of my favorite picks of the draft. She’s someone, again, that the three of us talked about. We wanted to get strength down the middle, she’s someone that plays a 200-foot game, has some sneaky skills that I think are going to find a way to produce some offense, but such a responsible player, a difficult player to play against. She was someone right off the bat from this whole process, we’re like, “Where do we have to position ourselves to find a way to get Sloane?” and we’re very happy that it landed that way.
Ryan, on feeling good about O’Neill and Matthews as PWHL San Jose’s one-two punch down the middle:
I think so. Right now, depending on what free agency brings, and if there’s any trades or anything like that, but we’re very comfortable with both of them.
Ryan, on his late-round picks:
The good thing about both of them—I don’t have a ton of history with them, but I think I was an assistant GM for when they were with Hockey Canada in the U18 program, so I had some familiarity with them. I’m a big fan of both of them. Van Gelder is kind of my type of player, very reliable. I think she was 61 percent in the faceoff dot, she gives you some depth down the middle as well. Her old coaches said she’s the best leader they’ve ever had. There’s all these things that kind of add up to being a great player.
Reichen is just like—I mean, her shot is unbelievable. I think her year was a little bit down from this year compared to last year. I just think sometimes, those players just need a little bit of a rebirth, and you’ll get that old Reichen, but there’s very few people that shoot like she does. I was thinking at times, if Edwards is ever up front and getting passes over to Reichen, she’s gonna bury them, and vice versa.
She really brings the best out of those players.
Ryan, on No. 40 pick Lily Shannon:
She was good. We were really excited to get her—another two-way player that can produce, good size. I got emotional, actually, when we drafted her. She was really emotional, she looked at me, she just kind of was like, “Thanks for believing in me.” I started to fill up.
Especially when you’re starting something new, you want these types of people, you want people that are all-in on the build, that are just excited to have the opportunity. I think she went a little bit later than I anticipated, so when we got to that point, we’re like, “We got to take her now.” When she’s still available at that point, we’re excited. Really very excited that we were able to select her.