Cleveland Monsters Season-Opening Q&A With Head Coach Trent Vogelhuber

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The Cleveland Monsters open the 2024-25 AHL season at the same place their 2023-24 season ended. The emotions from that still linger around those that were part of that amazing Eastern Conference Final.

The Monsters will play the Calder-Cup Champion Hershey Bears. The Bears will lift another banner to the rafters at Giant Center before the game with Cleveland on hand to witness it. Motivation to defeat the Bears shouldn’t be hard to find.

After an intense training camp in Columbus, the Monsters and their staff are ready to embark on the new season which is filled with excitement all over their lineup. It’s also full of questions too. It should make for an interesting season up I-71 on the shores of Lake Erie.

Head coach Trent Vogelhuber sat down with the Hockey Writers for an exclusive season-opening Q&A. We touched on a lot of topics from who stood out at Blue Jackets’ camp to how they develop plans for individual players and much more. We wrap up our conversation by discussing why the 2024-25 season has the potential to be very exciting.

Here is our 20-minute conversation.

Trent Vogelhuber Q&A

THW: Trent, now that you’ve got the semblance of a team in Cleveland, just how was your training camp different compared to the stuff that was going on in Blue Jackets camp?

Vogelhuber: “Definitely more hands on my part. I make a point to be a little bit more standoffish, just a resource for guys at the Columbus camp. Nobody wants to get too cozy with the American League coach when they’re at the NHL camp, which I completely understand and aware of. When guys get here, I’m able to take the reins and be a little bit more hands on. And this week’s honestly been a little bit more difficult in that sense just with the guys coming in and out, and we haven’t been able to do a ton of team stuff. We’ve had five guys on the ice some days, seven on the next, 11 back to five. It’s been a little bit in and out but overall, definitely more hands-on involved.”

THW: From my point of view, a guy like Luca Del Bel Belluz, a guy like James Malatesta, certainly others, stood out where it was plainly obvious that they had made strides in their development. Just from your point of view Trent, who really stood out to you just from the time that you guys departed from Hershey (last season) until you got back up here?

Vogelhuber: “I think the first name you mentioned which was Luca Del Bel Belluz. He’s come a long way from a kid that to be honest organizationally, we weren’t sure if he was going to do his year back in junior or not. I really liked some of the things I saw from him last year in camp, so I was pushing to have him on our roster. He did not disappoint. And I think just from where he started a year ago til now, we made it clear to him throughout last season and this summer the things he needed to improve on. Strength and explosiveness being at the top of that list. He’s taken everything we’ve said seriously and been all on board with our plan for him as far as the strength training and took it to heart this summer. We’re still going to work on foot speed. He’s not the fastest guy on the ice in the NHL. That’s okay. But I’ve seen him hold off people and protect pucks. (His) confidence as well with that strength and preparation has shot through the roof. I think he’s done a great job.

Malatesta is another guy who’s come a long way. His is different. I think he’s got the strength and explosiveness down. It’s just the awareness of the constant detail that you have to have in your game at the pro level, certainly in the NHL, which I’ve seen him make improvements on. None of them are finished products, but on the right trajectory for sure. Another kid on the forward side, Hunter McCown, who was a free agent signing undrafted, but I thought just one area that I love to see from him is his consistent competitiveness was not at the level it needed to be when he turned pro. And it was probably until All-Star break where it looked like it clicked to him as far as the level that he has to battle at. It popped off the ice for me in training camp and some of the games. Just the hard nose-ish power forward mindset that he’s brought has been a huge improvement, and I’d love to see that from those three guys.

On the defensive side, I don’t know if there’s somebody that’s popped off for me in that sense, but I just think guys have steadily come along. I’ve loved Cole Clayton. He was huge for us last year. He doesn’t look out of place in those NHL games. He’s worked himself into being an NHL prospect where he was on an American League deal, which is what it’s all about for us. It’s come a long way. And then we’ve got younger guys like Stanislav Svozil and (Corson) Ceulemans who have definitely improved over the summer with strength and fitness, which is another big part of their program that we’re working on with them but I think still have a ways to go, We’re going to continue to work but they’re on the right track.”

Trent Vogelhuber Cleveland Monsters
Trent Vogelhuber says several forward stood out during Blue Jackets’ camp. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

THW: You brought up Luca earlier, and he’s a great example about how you guys develop a plan for a specific player. He was going to have a gym routine. He was only going to play certain games, and then it ended up being more. What all actually goes into developing a plan? Who else is involved with that planning process when it comes to an individual player?

Vogelhuber: “We take the feedback from the NHL GMs and coaches for sure of what they’re seeing and we’re a part of that. So those guys lay the foundation at the end of the training camp meeting on things they think they need to work on. And then myself, our coaching staff, along with Chris Clark, our GM, and our strength coach Ben Eaves is in on those meetings that we have with individual players when we start. We identify the areas that they need to improve. So (Luca) was a pretty easy one with the strength. And that’s something we could really control how we hit those areas in the gym. And Eaves is much more involved in something like that.

And then I’ll go to James Malatesta where it’s some of the consistent winning details away from the puck. With that, we make sure we hit video a little bit more and schedule that almost weekly at the least to make sure we’re touching some of those points, staying on it and driving them home. To answer your question, it’s everybody collectively. I spearhead those kinds of schedules along with the help of many other people who then take it and run with it. But it’s collective for sure. There’s other people that we have that need to just improve their execution and puck touches. So we make sure multiple times a week that they’re out there before practice with Ben Eaves our skills coach, one of our assistant coaches just doing touches and small-area skill stuff. We try to tailor it as much as we can to each individual player and make sure that it’s not just something we’re doing for the first two weeks of the season, that we can continue that during the dog days, when we get December, January and February as well.”

THW: I know one of the big challenges you have as a coach, and Columbus has a lot to do with that, is the lineup and how you formulate that. There’s obviously certain parameters that you have to consider, league rules, veteran minimums. But when there are certain guys that you want to play but there just might not be so much room, they’re a healthy scratch. I wonder how do you get the most out of guys that might not be playing all the time, but you keep them fresh and keep them ready? What is the challenge in all those lineup things you have to do?

Vogelhuber: “I think honesty is first and foremost. I don’t have a ton to hide as far as why the decisions are being made. I think for the veteran players maybe that last year would miss games. They’ve been around long enough. They’ve been in the NHL, the American League and they understand where they’re at in their career and what the purpose of this league is. They’re for the NHL team. The primary purpose is to make sure that we have players ready to play in the NHL. I can be as honest as possible with those guys, give them feedback as to it’s not necessarily a scratch or a play, but we have to make sure we’re filtering guys in the lineup, primarily young players. Keep honest with that. That’s been received well.

And on the other side of things with young players, we go through a progression with them of it’s not just a scratch out of nowhere. It’s giving them every opportunity to play themselves out of it, and whether it’s a little bit less ice time in a video meeting as to why that happened and maybe a little bit of demotion on a pair or line. If it’s not getting better, the ice time continues to go down. You hit another video meeting. You talk and then we communicate with our general manager in Columbus and get an okay that it might be time for them to watch a game. And then you just go through those progressions. It’s not a straight, narrow path for everybody. We work through those and communicate, but I think the first and foremost thing is honesty.

I’ll tell those young players; you don’t deserve to be in the lineup tonight because we’ve done this and we haven’t seen it improve. I think it’s a great opportunity to use a setback. It’s normal to go through these things, but to reset, watch from above, and we can come back and continue to improve. But I think honesty with players, communication within the organization from top to bottom on what we’re doing and why, and then it doesn’t need to be a bigger deal than it is. That’s just what’s best for the individual and the team.”

THW: Trent, how do you feel like that your relationship with Chris Clark has evolved since you started working with him?

Vogelhuber: “I’ve got a long history with him for being a player when he was on the development staff. I think we are able to be honest with each other. (I’m) certainly more comfortable in the way that we communicate and understanding what we both need and want. I think it’s progressed nicely. I’m very comfortable having those discussions with him, and I think he would say the same thing. I’ve known him for a long time. The trust is there. (We’re) able to have those honest discussions when needed. I think it’s in a healthy place.”

THW: Where do you feel like that you have grown the most as a coach?

Vogelhuber: “I think everywhere. That’s a loaded question. You just come in naive. There’s so much more to it than just systematically and knowing the details of the game, which I felt confident in coming from a player to a coach. I just think personality management is a huge area that that I’ve learned just by watching coaches and just being through it and how to talk to players. Early on, it’s not comfortable to have honest conversations when it’s not what somebody wants to hear. I think you realize that it’s better to have somebody be angry with you but have that respect for 48 hours than disliked forever because you beat around the bush. That’s something that I’ve learned. It’s so much easier to just hit somebody between the eyes with what is happening. In the long run, they’ll respect you even if they disagree with you rather than trying to dance around feelings.

That’s an area that I’ve certainly grown as well as just managing staff members and managing the group as a whole. There’s a lot of non-hockey things that pop up in that regard. That’s really what it is. It’s no different than what you do or what a lot of other people do in their line of work. It’s managing people and understanding how to talk to different individuals and the buttons to push with certain people and with others. That’s just an emotional intelligence thing that I think isn’t just for hockey coaches. That’s for everybody. And that’s an area I think I’ve grown the most because systematically and detail wise, I felt comfortable with those. Have I improved and gotten more detailed and learned what I bought out of our team? Definitely. But I think the biggest growth has been in the other things that I mentioned.”

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THW: Mike Haviland is up in Columbus now. You have a new coach on your staff. What is the impact of having a new coach on your staff this season?

Vogelhuber: “Fortunately, I’ve known Chris Bergeron since my days at Miami (Ohio). I’ve stayed close with him for a long time ever since he recruited and coached me at college. That was one of the main reasons I wanted him here because he made a lasting impression on me and a lot of my teammates just in the relationship building side of things. I know what his strengths are and that’s it. And to be honest, they’re very similar to what Mike Haviland’s strengths were. It’s connecting with people, earning trust and being able to have those open lines of communication with respect. It’s not just developing hockey players. It’s building relationships with people that last far longer than just a season or a couple seasons. That was Havi’s strength. That’s Bergeron’s strength. I think with our young players, that’s the most important thing.

Going back to your previous question, it’s not necessarily just the details of the game that are the most important. It’s earning trust with these players so you can have honest conversations so they know you care about them. You can’t pretend to try to act like you care about them. You have to actually care about them. Then it’s organic and natural and that’s what Bergeron does so well. He cares about his players. I’m a testament to that. I’m in touch with him and close to him 12 years after I graduated, and that’s why I wanted him here.”

THW: Trent, how much do the Blue Jackets ask for your input? And then how much do you feel like that they value your input when it comes to two or three guys perhaps deserve an opportunity, but they can only choose one?

Vogelhuber: “I haven’t gone through that yet with Dean (Evason) or Don (Waddell). But in our discussions in Columbus, it was it seems like they will value my and our coaching staff’s input very much. They want to make sure that they’re getting the player that deserves it the most for the Blue Jackets. But they both understand that we’re trying to build a team here as well and what it can do if you just pull who you think it should be rather than who deserves it and what that can do to a locker room here as well and the culture that we’re trying to build. I think they’re going to be very willing to hear what we have to say, take our opinions, and then ultimately, that’s their decision. But they from what I understand and what it sounds like, they’re going to be really honest with me and take our advice weighted pretty heavily, which is great.”

Don Waddell, Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell will work closely with Trent Vogelhuber throughout the season. (Photo credit: Mark Scheig, the Hockey Writers)

THW: Trent, there’s a palpable excitement around this team. Denton Mateychuk is with you. It’s unfortunate with Gavin Brindley’s broken finger. Once that rehab is done, he may end up joining you. Just how exciting is this Monsters’ season going to be for you? How much potential is there?

Vogelhuber: “That’s again, a loaded question. I’m very excited because I think right now, we’ve got guys a little bit dinged up already, which obviously isn’t the way you want to start as a group or those individuals. Especially young guys like Gavin who want to get started on the right foot and come out flying. That’s always disappointing for them. But I said this summer. I think just looking at the roster, it’s arguably the most skilled roster I think I’ve been a part of here as far as prospects go. It’s also undoubtedly the youngest. Somehow, we found a way from last year to this year to get younger. I’m obviously excited to work with these kids.

I also understand what first-year players go through and what second year players go through. There’s going to be a learning curve. We have second-year players who now are not rookies anymore, and they’re going to be expected to not just fall in line with the leaders and guys who’ve been around, but to drive the bus. That’s a big step to take. That’s what we’re going to be pushing from them. We need those guys versus second year players for us to have success here to drive the bus and be impact players and take ownership of the team that they’re on. And while that’s exciting to work with these guys, it’s going to be a lot of work for them and for us to get us to the spot where I thought we finished last year, where everybody was on the same page, pulling the rope, same direction, understanding their roles. All those things change. Players step into higher or bigger roles. I don’t think it’s going to be without adjustment and learning curves, but at the same time, the potential is very high with skill sets.”