The Victoria Royals are very much in the hunt for the playoffs and team President and General Manager Cameron Hope is prepared leading into the league’s trade deadline.
With the team playing well, above the expectations of many, Hope is happy with his group and the first half of the season.
“We weren’t 100% sure how it was going to go when we had made so many changes, but the guys have integrated really well,” said Hope. “They’ve been able to endure a couple of stretches where we’ve been missing key players. So I would say, on the whole, I’m pretty satisfied with the way it has gone.“
“In those 10 days leading up to the roster freeze, keep your ears open and not be afraid to explore things. But also do not be afraid to walk away when it doesn’t make any sense,” said Hope of how he approaches the deadline.
The Western Hockey League’s roster freeze is Friday, January 10th.
“Going into this stretch until the 10th of January, you can’t control all of the landscape. All you can do is be agile and be ready and see what comes along. That’s how we’ve approached it.”
When the dust settles teams will either be deemed buyers, sellers or a club who chose to stand-pat. Over the years, Victoria could be considered each of those distinct designations. The results, however, have been similar – at best, a second-round appearance in the playoffs.
“In 2016, I thought we had a really great team that could contend. That’s when Joe Hicketts was our captain, and we didn’t make hardly any changes at all. We had a great season, but we’re knocked out the second round.”
“Then in 2018, we made a lot of changes just because of the way things
seemed to fall, not planning to necessarily do all of that. Again, we had a great contender but saw a knockout in the second round. So, hockey is one of those sports where there’s only so much you can control.”
“Having said that one of the things that you can control is making sure that you maximize your roster. You just have to stay super flexible”
“In those 10 days leading up to the roster freeze, keep your ears open and not be afraid to explore things. But also do not be afraid to walk away when it doesn’t make any sense,” said Hope of how he approaches the deadline.
Where many clubs, including those in the Royals’ own division, have already made some significant deals, Victoria has yet to pull the trigger on any substantial deal.
As Hope described, the team hasn’t really had a chance to see what they have with the current roster. “I’m still not 100% hundred percent sure of what we have. Just when we get Gary Haden back, we lose Kaid Oliver for a bit more. Then as we get Kaid back, we lose Phillip Schultz for a while and so on. We’ve been rotating having guys out.”
“When you look around, in our conference in particular, and you see other teams that are making additions, it’d be nice to make sure that we are caught short with in terms of veteran leadership.”
“I think really we’ve got a pretty good group and it’s not necessary for us to make changes to be successful. But having said that our ears are always open.”
“This particular team, when you have a group of guys that have been around the league a long time and want to win, such as Will Warm, Gary Haden, Shane Farkas, Phillip Schultz, and Kaid Oliver and so on. When you also look at the roster and ask do these guys have the fire and the willingness to do what it takes to be a championship team?”
“I think they do. And if you feel that way, as a general manager, then you feel an obligation to do anything you can to help them achieve that goal. Whether that means letting them run and do it or whether it means making changes to enhance their chances, that’ll depend on what’s available.”
