No more Mr. Nice Guy, as Derek Jedamski takes over Royals
Team name changes to Flower City Fury
October 1st, 2024
Exit the nice guy and enter Derek Jedamski, who was recently described by someone as a John Tortorella type head coach/GM.
Jedamski has everything that the previous coach/GM didn’t. He is a former hockey player, he has experience coaching younger players. He also doesn’t seem to have any issue working with players that are considered to be stars in the league.
If one comment stood out from his the many he’s made over the past week, it’s that he doesn’t feel he needs to micromanage guys like Hughes and Kaprizov.
“I’ve always been a believer that you have to allow your top players the latitude to make plays and act on their instincts,” Jedamski said. “It’s fine line between making sure that you stay out of the way in certain circumstances, but you provide the necessary structure so that you don’t become a high-risk team.”
He also sounds like a guy who has been there, done that and has learned a lot about what it takes to be successful in fantasy hockey.
Jedamski also seems ready to focus on something that was absent under the previous coach – helping the team figure out what they want to be. Or in simpler terms, establishing an identity.
“What are our strengths as a group and how do we play to those strengths to have a competitive advantage?” Jedamski said. “I don’t think it’s any secret that the Westbury Royals are built around speed and skill. That has to be part of our identity on how we’re going to play.”
That again speaks to letting those top players go out and do what they do. Guys like Hughes, Kaprizov, Dobson, and Konecny need to have a longer leash to create offense. They can’t abandon their defensive responsibility, but there should be times during the course of a game where they can focus on putting pucks in the net instead of keeping them out.
Jedamski sounds like he wants to be more of a director. He wants to be the guy to explain processes, correct them when they go awry, but he’s going to put the onus on the players to create the atmosphere of success.
“I challenged them to embrace the process,” Jedamski said. “I told them hockey is a hard game. It’s a hard sport. It’s hard to win. We have to embrace the struggle here. We have to embrace the process. I think if we do that we have the best chance moving forward.”
He’ll get his first chance to do that this weekend when the Royals take the ice against the Long Beach Ice Dogs in their season opener. Some things might look familiar, such as lines during the early going, while others will be completely different.
“Everything’s on the table. I spoke with the coaching staff this morning about that and got their input and the line combinations the defense pairs as they have been through these preseason games. I’m coming in a little late here and trying to get an assessment of what the line combinations have looked like and what kind of chemistry is there and if there is a need to try to tweak things. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to start playing regular season games so I can see for myself and get a first-hand view of how this team can really play.”
