The Henderson Silver Knights are hovering on the edge of the playoff race, close enough to see it but still needing a push to get there. Entering the stretch run, Henderson sits six points back of the Tucson Roadrunners, with the Pacific Division standings tightening by the week.
In the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division, where the top seven teams qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs, the margin for error is thin. For Henderson, the postseason picture remains very much within reach — but the road there runs almost entirely through divisional opponents.
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I chatted with head coach Ryan Craig to discuss where his team stands entering the final push. Our conversation covered Henderson’s early-season surge, the challenges that followed and how the coaching staff views the path forward as the playoff race tightens.
Ryan Craig Q&A
THW: I guess to start off, you guys have two games up in San Jose, but were you able to recoup over the All-Star break a bit?
Craig: “We knew coming out of the All-Star break we had 29 games. I believe we have 63 days left. Starting that would have started on Saturday. We know the position we’re in. We have some games that hand on teams we play, the teams we’re trying to catch. We feel like we played good hockey and not the best hockey we can or our game needs to get better in certain areas. Obviously you need to collect points and moral victories this time of year aren’t going to get you in the playoffs. We we have to take that next step of turning good, solid games into points and continue to climb in the standings.”
THW: With that break how have you been able to evaluate the season up until this point? The good, the bad, the meh?
Craig: “The first 10 games were very good — a good start. After that, we’ve had to call a spade a spade. We had call-ups and injuries to some really good players. Bowman went up, Carl Lindbom went up — two very deserving guys, and that’s what we want to see in the American Hockey League: guys getting opportunities. Ralph (Raphaël) Lavoie was off to a really good start and we missed him, but other guys got more opportunity. We’ve had some good things happen and some growing pains. We’re hoping as we get Carl (Lindbom) back and return to health a little bit that our group benefits from those opportunities earlier in the year. We have to find more consistency — shift to shift, period to period and game to game. Like this weekend, we played very well Saturday in San Jose, then Sunday we had a chance at 4-4, the game got away from us and we lose 8-4. With the call-ups and injuries it’s unpredictable.”
THW: With that evaluation, do you think this group ahead of where you expected, behind, or about right?
Craig: “Yeah you’re going to have ups and downs over a season. We’re one game over .500 and there’s a lot of hockey left in a short amount of time. We’d obviously like to be in a better position right now, but you go through ebbs and flows. You can look at Abbotsford last year — they were around where we are at this point and got going and ended up Calder Cup champions. We’re not looking that far ahead; we’re focused on playing our best game Friday against Abbotsford. We’re probably about where we are. We’ve had chances to grab more points, but going through adversity and moments where we haven’t managed games well should make us better as individuals and as a team as we push through the final 27 (games).”
THW: You kind of touched on it with Lindbom earlier but what’s it been like working with three young goaltenders this season?
Craig: “Carl came up and played — he’s played 15 games for us and eight for Vegas and has been up for more than a six-week stretch. He’s a very deserving guy who’s now gotten a taste of the NHL at a couple different times, and that’s really solidified him as the No. 3 goalie, the next call-up in our organization’s pecking order. It gave Jesper Vikman a chance to play 18 games and Cameron Whitehead had to come up from Tahoe to get experience with our group. Like everyone else in the lineup, that only benefits us in the long run as a team and organization with our depth. Our goaltenders are the backbone of our team — we pride ourselves on defending and checking. We did that Saturday and didn’t do a good enough job Sunday in San Jose, so they’re a big part of it, and anyone who has played for us this year has helped us. Offensively, the scoring balance has helped the group because when you defend well it leads to chances, and getting contributions throughout the lineup has supported how we want to play.”
THW: Piggybacking off that, the defense has played a major role in producing goals this season, how pleased have you been with that aspect of the team?
Craig: “We knew as an organization we were going to be young up front, so it was important to find ways to move the puck from below the tops of our circles and goal line into our forwards’ hands in good positions to get out of our end. We brought in Jaycob Megna, who became our captain, Dylan Coghlan, who’s back for a second year, Jérémy Davies and a healthy Lukas Cormier. Those four have really solidified our back end at different times with guys in and out of the lineup. Davies has probably been the most consistent without missing time, while Coghlan and Megna have both been called up and dealt with injuries, but they’ve allowed us to rely on them back there. We like our decor a lot — we think it’s a backbone of our team along with our goaltending when we’re playing our best.”
THW: You mention the youth upfront, what’s that been like? There’s a plethora of talent, how has that group impressed you?
Craig: “If you go through our lineup, a young guy like Ben Hemmerling is essentially in his rookie season after missing four or five months last year with a shoulder injury, and he’s found a home on the right side with Tanner Laczynski, an AHL All-Star and arguably one of the top players in the league. Ben’s done a really good job establishing his game. Jackson Hallum came in as an older first-year player out of the University of Michigan, and his maturity, speed and understanding of the game show up in all situations. Other young first-year guys are taking steps, and then you have players in their second year like Uronen and Cataford. Then guys like Kai Uchacz, Sapovaliv in his second year, Brabenec when he’s healthy. We talk about being young up front, and those guys have done a really good job giving us depth and moving into different roles as opportunities have come up.”
THW: 27 games left until the end of the season, playoffs are the goal of course but the main question is how. How do you hope these next couple of months unfold?
Craig: “I don’t think we can look too far ahead. We play a lot of weekend sets and back-to-backs, mostly in our division. We only have four games left outside the division — two in Milwaukee and Texas coming here for two — and then we see Tucson six times, Abbotsford, Calgary and Ontario again. The schedule sets up with big divisional games against teams we know and understand what it takes to beat, but we don’t need to look past this weekend against Abbotsford. We’re home and play five of our next six here, but the focus is being ready at puck drop Friday night and stacking shifts, periods and games together, starting with one.”
