With Canucks development camp in the rear-view mirror, development coaches Mikael Samuelsson and Mike Komisarek joined Chris Faber on this week’s episode of the Canucks Insider Podcast.
The two coaches discussed the week that was at Canucks development camp, their approach to working with prospects, and provided a few examples of how they worked with some of the draft picks from last season.
Both Samuelsson and Komisarek believe that the development camp is an excellent place for them to begin establishing relationships with the new prospects and start to build kinship with the highly motivated young men.
“It’s a busy week, but you do have that downtime at breakfast, lunch, walking to the hotel and back to the rink, on the bus. Tomorrow, we’re going down to the baseball game. We have some time on the bus. So, if you have those small little conversations, I think [they] go a long way, and they’ll be seeing a lot of us,” said Komisarek.
“We want it to be a two-way street. We don’t want to just be kind of hounding these guys, giving them info, giving them feedback. We want them calling us. We want them asking for help and whatever [they need].”
Samuelsson spoke about how being a coach has helped him scratch an itch that has been there ever since he retired from the NHL.
“When I stopped playing, I missed my teammates. I missed chasing a puck and scoring goals too, but more of it. It’s like, just the relationship too, once you grow older, to be a part of a group who aims for the right goal, and has the right mindset, I think we have that,” said Samuelsson.
The guys discuss their approach to helping players at various stages through their journeys, including injuries. They worked with 2024 sixth-round draft pick Anthony Romani this past season, when he endured the first long-term injury of his career. They also discussed players like Tom Willander, Sawyer Mynio and Vilmer Alriksson making the jump to pro hockey.
They talk about their communication with Patrik Allvin and Cammi Granato regarding progress reports on prospects throughout the year.
“We’ll have weekly Zoom updates on pretty much all our prospects, where they stand, how they’re doing. Every situation is different. They’re all at a different point in the development curve,” said Komisarek.
“We’ll just dissect, like, I certainly don’t have all the answers. Sammy might have some. We’ll literally brainstorm ideas on how to attack, how to approach. And so, the message is packaged concisely, but there are so many ups and downs.”
Catch up on the development side of the Canucks in the latest episode, which is now available on YouTube and all the podcatcher apps!
Watch the latest episode here:
