Stan Butler prides himself on being a quality developer of hockey players.
But for the most part, a European players’ time to develop as a member of the Battalion is usually a short one.
Case and point forwards, Vincent Praplan and Hampus Olsson who spent only one season with the Troops before moving on.
But this summer Butler went young with his top import draft pick as they selected young German power forward Max Kislinger with their first import pick 43rd overall in the 2015 CHL Import Draft.
The young forward has impressed Butler early on as he’s registered 1 goal and 2 assists in the first 6 games this season.
“I think he’s a prime example of a kid who has a lot of talent and I think he was a good get for us,” noted Butler during Wednesday’s media conference.
“One of the reasons we drafted him was he’d be a three-year player and I just felt to have that consistency now we go back to the import draft next year and we already have one good import, now it’s a lot easier to find just one a year.”
With the departure of Olsson and Alex Henriksson, the Battalion grabbed Kislinger with their top pick and then like Bautista, the Battalion swung for the fences by grabbing Rangers draft pick Robin Kovacs with their second selection. Unfortunately, the gamble did not pay off as Kovacs elected to play pro this season in Sweden for AIK.
Regardless, Butler is focussed on Kislinger’s progression and the young German is thrilled to be here.
“I was very excited, because I had actually heard about the Battalion before and I knew that it was a good organization so once I saw I was drafted by them I was very excited and very happy,” said Kislinger.
The 6’2”, 200 pound forward has a Canadian connection as he moved to Canada to play his minor midget season in Peterborough in 2013-14 where he finished with 13 goals and 15 assists for 28 points in 36 games with the Peterborough Petes Minor Midget AAA team.
Kislinger believes the one year Canadian experience helped him prepare for life in the OHL.
“It helped me a lot because it improved my english a lot and that helped me to understand what the coaches are saying and understand what teammates are saying that really helped me a lot,” he said.
With many European countries pushing to keep their players closer to home to develop, Kislinger’s nation of Germany has always been receptive to allowing its players to develop overseas in North America.
“I think they just want their guys to be the best they can be and go wherever they want to or wherever they have to go and I think they know that the junior level here is higher than it is in Germany so I think they are happy for every player who gets a chance to show themselves here,” he said.
The Re-Match
The Battalion will rekindle the bitter rivalry tonight as the Oshawa Generals make their first visit here since they eliminated the Troops on Battalion ice last spring in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Gone are the big names like North Bay’s Ken Appleby, and monster forwards Michael McCarron and Hunter Smith.
Butler says he is seeing improvement in his 3-3 squad but he would still like to see more as the Troops look for a little Generals payback tonight.
“You look at our first three games we weren’t very good, I will probably say we are now a not bad, we are average,” he said.
Bratina bright spot
The Battalion have proven that with an aggressive forecheck good things can happen. Speedy forward Zach Bratina has taken advantage of his blazing speed to create turnovers which have led to goals and quality scoring opportunities.
Bratina sits third in the league in goal scoring with six through six games early this season.
“I mean that’s the way I like to coach, if you watched our national under-18 team that’s what I believe,” said Butler about the forecheck.
“I believe pressure is the way you play, when I was a basketball coach I was the same way. I want to be hard whether it’s the puck or the ball and that’s how we are going to play. I tell my guys all the time it’s okay to make mistakes as long as it’s an aggressive mistake and if we are going to make a mistake it’s going to be because we didn’t sit back,” said Butler.
