Belleville’s Mann returns for a fifth season leading Senators prospects

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Just like all the prospects that also carry big league dreams, Belleville Senators coach Troy Mann is pumped at finally kicking off another season Thursday at Canadian Tire Centre.

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“The best times of the year in this business are the start of training camp and the playoffs, if you’re lucky enough to get there,” Mann said in a telephone interview on the eve of the opening of rookie camp.

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Following a practice in Ottawa, Mann will lead the prospects into Buffalo for weekend games against their peers on the Sabres, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens.

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Mann, 52, can feel the optimism in the city. As he enters his fifth season as the bench boss in Belleville, he takes a measure of pride in his contributions to the development process of so many current and future Senators.

Up front, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, Alex Formenton, Parker Kelly, Ridly Greig and Mark Kastelic have all seen significant time honing their skills under Mann in Belleville. Mathieu Joseph came to the Senators from Tampa Bay in the trade deadline deal for Nick Paul, who has credited Mann for all the hard miles and hard conversations that helped him finally climb out of the American Hockey League.

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Thomas Chabot’s first taste of playing defence professionally came in Belleville and Erik Brannstrom has been on a yo-yo between the NHL and AHL since joining the Senators organization. If all goes well, Lassi Thomson and/or Jacob Bernard-Docker could make the jump from playing in Belleville to full time duties in the NHL at some point this season.

Part of development is learning how to win, of course.

In Mann’s four years with Belleville, he has posted a record of 133-95-18. The B-Sens were loaded for an extended playoff run with Batherson, Norris and Brannstrom involved in 2020, but those hopes disappeared with the arrival of COVID-19 and the sudden shutdown of the league.

“Ultimately, you want to win,” said Mann. “You want to build a winning culture as much as possible, because if you win together in the AHL and then you graduate, it helps all the players in the NHL. The goal is to get as many guys into the NHL and help them towards winning the Stanley Cup.”

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Coaching goes well beyond teaching the X’s and O’s.

“The biggest part of it is the individual conversations with the guys and talking to them, whether they’re playing well or not and the honesty,” he said.

Before joining Belleville, Mann spent four years as head coach of the Hershey Bears, delivering an overall record of 162-102-40, including a trip to the Calder Cup final in 2016. Two years later, the parent Washington Capitals, with a healthy group of former Hershey players in the lineup, claimed the Cup.

“You get to feel good about it and part of it,” said Mann.

At some point, Mann would like the opportunity to move up the ladder himself. He has gone through his own grind in the coaching ranks, beginning in 2004-05, when he served as a player/assistant coach with the Topeka Tarantulas of the Central Hockey League.

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“Absolutely, the ultimate goal is to be in the NHL as a head coach at some point,” he said. “Whether there’s a step in between, as an assistant coach, time will tell. I’ve had some conversations, but it’s about finding the right fit in the right organization. In our business, it’s so big about who you know, and do you know the right people.”

For now, though, the task is doing everything he can to prepare “the next wave” of Senators prospects.

Chief among them is defenceman Jake Sanderson, who will see his first action in a Senators uniform, and Shane Pinto, who will fine-tune his game after missing most of last season with shoulder injuries.

Mann will do what he can with a single practice before the games begin.

“We’ll try to put in as much structure as we can,” he said. “As much as we’re evaluating the condition of players, ultimately part of the job is being able to process information. Do we expect perfection? Absolutely not. But we will talk about some things.”

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As for what Belleville could look like this season after Senators general manager Pierre Dorion makes his final roster cuts, Mann has high hopes.

Considering all the moves the Senators have made in the off-season, including the additions of Alex DeBrincat, Claude Giroux and on Wednesday, Tyler Motte, Mann says the farm team should be in good shape.

That means prospects might not be recalled as early as in previous seasons.

“It’s hard to tell because you’re not sure what is in other systems and there’s more than 50 per cent turnover in the AHL,” said Mann. “But we have a great core and because the Senators added real quality players in the summer, it maybe pushes back some of the prospects, who might have to spend longer in the AHL.

“That’s never a bad thing. Tampa Bay, Washington, and Detroit, in the past, have all done that. Making the playoffs in the AHL is about having depth. You’re going to lose players (to call ups and injuries). The question is whether you can stay in the mix with your depth.”

kwarren@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren