The Erie Otters are ready to take the next step in 2023-24. Their desire to do so started as soon as the final horn blew in Game 68 last season.
It was another tough season for the Otters. From injuries to a head coaching change, there were many long nights. It also marked another season without playoff hockey in Erie. The team desperately needed something to go their way in the offseason.
Thanks to the OHL Draft Lottery, they got just that. The Otters won the right to pick first overall and landed a player many consider the best player in the class in defenseman Matthew Schaefer. He and Malcolm Spence now provide a young, formidable duo that is expected to help the Otters on to better days.
As has been tradition in recent years, we caught up with Otters’ general manager Dave Brown to discuss the offseason and the upcoming season. As you will see, the work needed to be ready for this week began a long time ago.
Dave Brown Q&A
THW: When last season ended and you got together with your leadership group in the front office, what was the one thing that you guys discussed that you wanted to go into the off season and accomplish?
Brown: “I think we wanted to increase our talent pool. I think you always go into a season looking to increase your talent pool, right? You want to try and improve in all areas. I think sometimes you chase what you think made you successful. I think we had some undersized players previously that were very successful and through covid we got small real fast. One of the things we did was we just put a stronger emphasis on skating, size, and compete. We said hey, when we start the new year, if we could be better in all three of those areas, then we’re going to be happy.”
“The other thing is we wanted to make sure that we had a well balanced team and that we weren’t top heavy. We’ve got forwards that can compete at every (position) of our hockey team. And we have defensemen one through seven or eight, all seven or eight guys could play on anybody’s team. So that was the goal. I think we’ve gotten bigger. I think our compete level is far greater. The expectation of our new players and older players is to win now. I think you want to keep everything in perspective and make sure that you do things in a timely fashion that’s conducive to allowing the players to develop properly.”
THW: What feedback did Stan Butler give to you after going through a little bit of time last year? Was there anything in particular that he told you about what he wanted to see?
Brown: “I don’t think so. Stan and I have been friends for a very long time and I think one of the things we have is a mutual respect for what each other has accomplished in the Ontario Hockey league. Obviously Stan’s been in a lot longer than I have. I remember going to watch his team’s practice, at that time it was Dave Brown the coach, and taking some of his practice drills and implementing them into my team. I think we’re on the same page in terms of how we want our teams to play, how we want our teams to compete night in and night out and how we want to continue to give these kids an opportunity to succeed at the next level. And if they’re succeeding at that level and we’re creating hockey players that NHL teams want, that can only mean really good things for our organization. In terms of getting back to respectability, getting back to the point where when the Erie Otters arrive in town, teams say: ‘Hey, those guys have a pretty good hockey team.'”
THW: What has stood out to you so far? You’ve had preseason games and some practices to look at. Has there been anything in particular that may have been a pleasant surprise for you so far?
Brown: I think just overall depth. We talk about slotting. Stan (Butler) is big on that, making sure we got the right guys in the right places to succeed. I think we mutually agree that we’ve got a lot of guys in the right places here. Stan loves to roll at teams and roll four lines. We give some of the other players some power play time and other guys get PK time. But collectively, we really want to be coming at teams in waves. In conversations with Scott Grieve and (other staff) I think we agree that we’ve got some good depth here. We’ve got a nice mix of age and younger players. Schaefer just turned 16. Malcolm Spence just turned 17. Wesley Royston is still 15. We do have some young guys yet we’ve got some older guys as well.”
“I think the depth that we had gave us the opportunity to look at our overage situation and say hey, our younger guys might be a little further ahead than what we thought. These guys need, in order for us to have long-term success, we want to make sure we do the right thing. We decided that we’ll begin the year with two overage players in Brett Bressette and Owain Johnston. And we’re gonna go ahead.”
THW: So you’re gonna leave it at two OA’s for now and then see what happens?
Brown: “Yep. 2016-2017 and this is not a year where I’m comparing this team to 16-17, but we sat at two overagers and went and got Warren Foegele at the deadline. I think what it does is it gives guys an opportunity to really excel and make huge strides early. We’ll continue to evaluate week-to-week, day-to-day and month-to-month. So we can get to that point where either we may decide earlier hey, let’s add a guy or if somebody becomes available. But at this current stage we’re ready to go with Brett and Owain. We’re excited for what they can add to our hockey team. We’ll start with those two guys and see where it takes us.”
Bressette and Fimis
THW: For Bressette just to be able to recover and put in the work to be ready for this opportunity. Can you just speak to what he had to do in order to be in this position to help your hockey team?
Brown: “Well I think first and foremost, Brett was coming off an injury where he had a broken clavicle in three different places and he was able to get surgery immediately at UPMC Hamot. The medical team did a great job of placing him back together. I guess that would be the layman’s terms of what happened, full plates. The therapy team gave him an opportunity to use the summer to really gain size and strength. Brett came in. He made some remarkable improvements in his fitness testing from orientation camp in May to main camp.”
“I think one of the messages that Stan was sending was you’re not competing against the next guy. You’re competing against yourself. How much better did you get from May until August? Brett made some remarkable improvements. The first couple exhibition games, it’s kind of getting his feet under him, getting into game shape. It’s hard to do. You can’t do it through pickup hockey with your buddies on Thursday through the summertime. Um, as everyone knows, summer hockey involves a lot of structured hockey, (which) involves a lot of stops and starts, so it’s quite a bit different. I think as each game passed by, Brett looked better and better. We’re excited for Brett. We’ve always been very high on his ability and skills. I think he brings a nice demeanor to our group. He’s a quiet leader. He’s worked real hard. Everybody saw his improvements at camp. We’re excited for him and excited to see how he does. He was our leading scorer going into the injury and following that, we came into hard times trying to score goals. We no doubt felt his absence.”
THW: One guy that I’m really curious to watch at the start of this season is Pano Fimis. And I know we’ve talked in the past about the need for center, and you used the deadline last year knowing that he could help this year and potentially next year. He’s had nine different coaches in his career. My question for you is what do you feel like you guys can do to kind of help still get the best out of him knowing that he’s had to undergo so many changes throughout his career to this point?
Brown: “Yeah, nine coaches does not lend too well for a player’s development in terms of being able to know who’s behind that bench. But I think now with Pano having Stan back there finishing the year and Stan being back there now, Pano knows what the expectations are and as well as does everybody else on the team. But I think there’s a relationship between Stan and Pano that I think was developed over the last eight weeks of last year.
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“I think with Pano, I think he is very good on faceoffs. Wes (Wolfe) went to one of the games at Buffalo and mentioned how well and effective he was on the faceoff dots. There’s no doubt as you get older, you know the league. Pano will be facing off against younger players this year, much the same way he was facing these older players just 18 months ago. I’m excited for Pano, another guy who worked extremely hard this summer in his fitness. I think he’s ready to go. I thought he had a real good camp. Like every older player, they’re looking to see immediate results. I think Pano is going to be a big part of this hockey team moving forward. I think when we talk about depth, center is definitely the position where we have some depth in Carey Terrance, Pano Fimis, Martin Misiak. Whether Bruce (McDonald) plays there as well or whether he plays on the wing, whoever that other guy is, it’s definitely an area of strength for us and we’re really excited for how it’s gonna play out.”
Reasons for Excitement Aplenty
THW: Last one for you. The fans are really hungry to see the Otters heading back in the right direction. Just what are the reasons that they should be excited for the 2023-24 season from your perspective?
Brown: “I honestly don’t want to sound repetitive here, but I think we have a lot of depth. We’ve got some high quality young players. we obviously have some drafts whether that be Misiak and Terrance up front. I think we’re excited for Nolan Lalonde’s 19 year-old season and we’re excited for the guys like Schaefer and Spence and Royston, and Brett Hammond, who we have a lot of high hopes for.”
“I think one thing you’ll find with this team is that I think we’re very fast and we’re gonna be able to push the pace of the game to an area where maybe some of our opponents will not be able to handle it in some sort. But I think we can keep coming at them with four lines in, in six defense, three pairs of defense. We’re gonna try and push the game to areas where it’s un uncomfortable for our opponents. They’re gonna be a lot of fun to watch, and I think our players have a desire to be great. That’s something that Stan can really push. We want our players to have an expectation of themselves. If you’re just happy to be here, you probably shouldn’t be here. But if you really want to make things happen and you want to make a difference, then this is the place for you. I think that that will carry over any energy that our players have. Even through tough times, our fans have always given us a boost of energy and we hope to be able to give that back to the them this year.”
