SUDBURY -- For a man who just lost his head coach heading into a potential OHL season, Sudbury Wolves General Manager Rob Papineau conveyed a sense of calm and perspective Tuesday when asked about the departure that caught the team and fans of the franchise by surprise.
Cory Stillman, head coach of Sudbury's OHL hockey team, was named the assistant coach of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes this week.
Papineau was quick to point out an old adage about coaching prospects: "You always know when you hire a coach, in this case, a particularly good one, that they’ll leave one day."
He alluded to Stillman’s accomplishments in his three years in Sudbury.
"We would like to thank Cory for this dedication, passion and commitment to the Sudbury Wolves," Papineau said.
"Cory and our entire coaching staff have always believed in our vision and our values as an organization. We believed when we hired him that he would come here and help build the culture that our program wanted to establish in the new era. Cory knows what it takes to be a professional and he was able to instill that in our dressing room with our players. Our players learned under Cory what it meant to work hard and compete hard in practice and games."
Papineau said Stillman leaves the team with a solid base and culture that players have bought into from the beginning.
As for the future, Papineau said he’s been busy on the phone taking calls but has plenty of options to consider with no timeframe or deadline to hire a replacement.
He personally called players on the team about the coaching change and said the response was good, that members were unanimous in their support for Stillman, wishing him the best in his new venture in the professional ranks.
"We wish Cory and his wife, Mara, all the best in Arizona and we know he will continue to succeed in his coaching career. While we were hoping to start out the season with him as our head coach, we also knew when we brought him to Sudbury that he was someone the NHL would very likely come looking for again," Papineau said.
When asked if an interim coaching situation is in the works for the Wolves, who are tentatively scheduled to beginning training camp next month, Papineau said all options will be considered.
The general manager’s task is daunting, to say the least with time playing a key factor in whatever decision he makes for the franchise.
Meanwhile, he’ll be monitoring the World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton and the progress of the Wolves' Quinton Byfield, now a member of the Los Angles Kings, after being drafted second overall in the priority selection draft.
While Papineau wants nothing but the best for Byfield, he said it’s now up to the Kings to decide whether or not Byfield returns to Sudbury in the New Year.
