"I was worried about getting names right, so I was making up nicknames on the bench. I didn't want to mispronounce their name," Eaves said with his trademark laugh, which comes easily. "It was good. They were fun on the bench. There was good interaction. It was fun to be on the bench with the coaching staff to get that going and see how we interact. It was all positive."
While the Traverse City roster is a mishmash of players who will play with Columbus, Cleveland, in Europe and in junior hockey this upcoming season, Eaves is the man in charge as he heads into skippering the AHL team this upcoming season.
There's plenty of help - many of the organization's decision makers headed up to Traverse City, and director of player personnel Chris Clark and European development coach Jarkko Ruutu have been among those to step behind the bench so far along with Eaves and his Monsters staff - but this is the first chance for Eaves to get back into pro coaching after spending the past 17 years at the college level.
Before that, though, Eaves was a pro assistant, both with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers as well as Hershey of the AHL from 1991-93. While the laughs come quickly in a conversation with Eaves, his practices are high-energy, intense and demanding, and his booming voice echoes throughout the rink.
"Mike has a great energy, you can see it right away," said Nikita Korostelev, a forward who spent most of last season with the Monsters. "It was great to meet him. He talked to everybody, shook everybody's hands. Great guy so far, great energy like I said, and he knows what he's doing behind the bench."
While it seems like the transition from college to pro will take some getting used to, it might be easier than it is on face value. Working with the Monsters is about development, just as it was at the University of Wisconsin and St. Olaf College where Eaves previously worked, and the players are in the same age group as well.
"When I took the job and I looked at the roster of last year's team and what we could have, 80 percent of our guys were between 22 and 26," he said. "My seniors last year at St. Olaf were 24 and 25. It's the same group. So it's been 30 years since I coached in this league in Hershey and it's changed. That's probably the biggest chance I see is that aspect. It's truly a development league."