A hockey organization has players who are considered franchise players, players who are the face of a team. But behind the scenes, the general manager is as much the face of the franchise as the kids on the ice.
The Sudbury Wolves have picked Rob Papineau to be their face.
Barclay Branch moved on to the Flint Firebirds and Papineau, who was working very closely with Branch, was the obvious choice.
The rookie GM will have the final say for a team with a long history in the OHL and a long history of average success.
“It’s an honour to be the general manager of the Sudbury Wolves, so it’s a great season every year, but I don’t look at it any different than last year. It’s our progression moving forward and it really is an honour,” said Papineau.
The team has never, ever won a Central Division title and after grabbing the second spot last season, everyone wonders if this year could be the year.
“It’s early and it’s tough to tell because you haven’t really seen the entire division yet,” said Papineau. “I think we’ll be in the hunt though.
“Obviously, our expectations are to be in the playoffs this year. We’ve got some young guys that have come in and they’re competing hard, and it’s really about them earning their ice time with Cory (Stillman).”
That said, Papineau said there are a few key guys he will look to lead the team.
“Up front, obviously Dmitry (Sokolov), David Levin, Macauley Carson, Michael Pezzetta — these are guys that have now played in the league a few years and have a lot of experience,” he said. “On our backend, I think Reagan O’Grady is ready for that next step. Conor Ali, I think, can come up, and then you got some really good young guys like Blake Murray that I think are going to be able to fit in fine.
“The compete level you get from the twins (Darian and Drake Pilon) night in and night out is something that we look forward to.”
A general manager has not only to be looking at the players who make an impact now, but who will be the pulse as these players graduate.
That school of thought was evident when Papineau traded away former first-round pick Owen Lalonde to Guelph for six draft picks — like a night manager, looking to re-stock the shelves.
“It’s critical, if you come into my office you’ll see on my board, I’ve got all of our players on one side and on the other side which is equal size, is all of our draft picks,” Papineau said. “When Dario (Zulich, Wolves owner) bought the hockey team last year, we didn’t have a second-round pick for three years.
“The highest pick you can trade or acquire is a second-round pick. That’s our future. It allows us to get into the conversations at certain points of the season on trades. It allows us to also make sure that we can target the guys that we like in the draft as well.”
He says those trades are done for now. Still, in his first year, Papineau said he won’t be afraid to pull the trigger on a deal if one comes along.
“I think Thanksgiving is a pretty good idea of where things are at and we’ve got a better feel for where players sort of sit,” said Papineau. “Doesn’t mean you never make another trade, it just means you got to give the group that you’ve got some time. But the phone rings every day and one of those days it might be something that catches your interest and you just don’t want to look away from.”
Papineau said he and Stillman share similar expectations for the season and for what type of culture they want to be building.
“What we want the identity to be is a hard-working group that has discipline. And discipline is not all about penalties: it’s about systems, it’s about back-checking, it’s about shift length, it’s about all of those things,” the GM said. “One of the things I think we have to take a step forward in from last year is our overall team discipline.”
It’s a big season for the Sudbury Wolves and for Rob Papineau, but what might be the biggest item to watch for is how he — and the team he’s molding — is able to grow into the role.
