Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

It won't be a quiet summer for franchise

Rockets close books on season; ready themselves for 2024-2025

Apr 26, 2024 | 7:00 AM

The Kelowna Rockets have put the final touches on the 2023-2024 season.

It included player exit meetings, which involved General Manager Bruce Hamilton and coaches Kris Mallette and Josh MacNevin.

“When we met with the 19-year-olds, we have four or five that want to come back and play as overagers,” Hamilton said. “We can only keep three. We outlined to them what their summer is going to entail. The younger guys in particular, we make sure they are aligned with Scott Hoyer [athletic therapist] on what their program is going to be this summer and what their expectations are this summer, and what expectations are for them coming back next year when we start up in the fall.”

The team also said goodbye to 20-year-old Gabriel Szturc, who will go on to play pro hockey, as well as forward Dylan Wightman and defenseman Kayden Sadhra-Kang.

“We met with the overages,” Hamilton continued. “Whatever we can do to help you pursue what you want to do. I would anticipate two of them [Wightman/Sadhra-Kang] are heading to university. We want to be involved with them making sure they make good decisions. We want to make sure they are looked after.”

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Included in the exit meetings is Hamilton sitting down with the coaching staff and seeing what their plans are moving forward.

“I will meet with them,” he added. “They all have a year left [on contract]. I don’t anticipate any changes. Maybe some of them are making decisions that they want to go somewhere else too. It is a two-way street.

“I thought Kris [Mallette] did a good job. From November, when we lost 9 in a row, and then he found his way. He is still a young coach and learning, and he will have a summer where he gets some help. He will be going to some seminars. A lot of the NHL coaches get together with our [WHL] guys to do seminars and training, so he will be involved in that. I think he realizes he has a long ways to go still. He is no different than the players. He has got to get better and learn.”

Mallette isn’t as young of a coach as some may believe, celebrating his 10th anniversary with the team this summer after being hired as an assistant in 2014. Only Ryan Huska, the winningest coach in franchise history, has been behind the bench longer.

While the organization improved in several areas this season, one that can’t be overlooked is man-games lost to injury. The team played 79-games with few in the way of significant ailments.

“That changed last year,” Hamilton pointed out. “Last year we had a lot [injuries], and he [Hoyer] redid the whole program and the players were on it all winter. There was no backing off, and he deserves all the credit in the world for that.”

The next big decisions for the team is the WHL U.S Priority Draft on May 8th and the WHL Prospects Draft on May 9th.

“We think we are on the road back. We have refilled the cupboard, and we are really excited about the draft. We have quite a few picks in the first three rounds and we have the fourth overall pick, so we know we are going to get a dynamic player at that slot.”

With forward Tij Iginla anticipated to be chosen in the opening round of June’s NHL Draft in Las Vegas, the summer of 2024 off the ice should be an exciting one.

“I am sure we will have some guys invited to the World Junior camp this summer, Hamilton concluded. “I would imagine [Andrew] Cristall, [Caden] Price, and [Tij [Iginla] will all get invited I am sure.