It was an enjoyable summer for Prince Albert Raider head coach Jeff Truitt, but he is more than ready to get his third season as the team’s bench boss underway.
The Raiders begin training camp for the 2024-25 WHL season on Friday with scrimmages open to the public beginning on Saturday morning.
Truitt says his excitement level for the upcoming season has increased the closer the calendar has gotten to the first day.
“It’s been a good summer because our club made the playoffs, although we would have liked to have gone further, but I think the experience that we got was a big learning lesson. Through the summer, you like your downtime but the last month has been the brains of work and you’re contacting people. It’s a busy time leading up to the NHL and European draft. The summer kind of goes on and you start thinking about things, you start thinking about your systems, the coaching staff and our players.
“As you get closer and closer, you get more and more excited and you look at the younger players that we’ve drafted over the last couple of the years, it’s very exciting. Then you look at the roster guys coming back in and I’m really excited about a bunch of our guys who have gone through the grind that they did last year and look to take a step in their leadership.”
Last season, the Raiders punched their ticket to the playoffs posting a 31-32-2-3 record, good enough for 67 points. Prince Albert matched up with the Saskatoon Blades in the first round of the playoffs and despite a win in Game 1 on the road at SaskTel Centre, the Raiders were eliminated in five games by the Blades.
Reaching the playoffs was the goal for the Raiders from the outset of the 2023-24 season and the team was able to achieve it. Heading into 2024-25, Truitt says the Raiders are looking to take another step in the right direction and possibly turn some heads across the WHL.
“You always enter the season with a championship mentality and we’re no different. It’s a long season. There could be things that happen that go your way and whatnot then you really gain momentum. You can really surprise people. Our mentality is that we’re going to compete as hard as we can every night. Our leadership group is tremendous, our returning guys are tremendous. We like our younger guys coming in and the competition is going to happen through this camp, which is the first step. I trust these guys wholeheartedly, they proved it last year, I look for another step this year, obviously every year you’re going to demand more, and we’re going to demand more from our returning guys, we’re going to demand more from our younger guys to make this jump in the adjustment quicker.”
During the offseason, the Raiders made a major move to add more offense on the blueline. On July 25, Prince Albert acquired Seattle Kraken prospect Lukas Dragicevic from the Tri-City Americans in a deal that saw Terrell Goldsmith, Grady Martin and Nathan Preston all head to Kennewick.
Truitt has coached Dragicevic in the past. When he served as the head coach for Canada at the 2023 IIHF U18 World Championships in Switzerland, Dragicevic played on that team that featured other WHL stars including Tanner Howe (Regina Pats), Riley Heidt (Prince George Cougars), Berkly Catton (Spokane Chiefs) and Carter Yakemchuk (Calgary Hitmen).
Truitt says Dragicevic will provide a much needed offensive jolt for the Raiders on the backend.
“You just take a look at the offence that he produces. He’s a second round draft pick of Seattle and you’re picked there for a reason. He’s an offensively gifted guy, very poised, good mobility. A great puck possessor and distributor, plus he’s got a tremendous shot. He loves the offence and that’s what we kind of looked at this year. We wanted more offence from our back end. Whether that’s going to be via the power play or five on five, whichever way it goes, we want to get more points from our back end and he fits that bill tremendously.”
One major theme of training camp for the Raiders will be competition. In the second half of last season, Nathan Preston served as the backup netminder behind Max Hildebrand who established himself as the number one netminder in Prince Albert.
With Preston being dealt away, it’s no secret that the backup netminder position will be open for the taking in Hockeytown North this season.
While there will be several other roster battles going on throughout camp, Truitt says he is most intrigued by the goaltender battle in camp.
“The glaring one for me is the backup role to Max Hildebrand. We’ve traded for (Eric) Kahl out of Tri-City and then we’ve got Cooper Anderson, we’ve got Steele Bass and other guys coming in here. There’s going to be a competition for that spot. It’s very well known that’s up for grabs so in training camp right now for that position, you really can’t have a bad day. You want to make sure that you’re on your game and mentally prepared and ready to go. Prepare for this camp as the audition and you have to have a strong one.”
There will be plenty of competition for 16-year-old players to make the roster out of camp for Prince Albert. The Raiders made five selections in the top 50 including three first round picks in 2023. Those players which include the likes of Daxon Rudolph, Riley Boychuk and Ty Meunier are all eligible to make the team as full-time contributors.
With the Raiders having a wealth of young talent entering camp, Truitt says he is looking forward to seeing who rises to the challenge during training camp.
“That’s what you love, and it’s a great problem to have. You look for these 16-year-old elite players to come in and show that they’re not 16. They show that they’re 18 or 19. It’s tough to do, because it’s a whole new level. It’s a whole new system. It’s a whole new teaching. It’s a whole new responsibility. But if they can get over that quickly, settle in, and show their stuff early on, we’ve got some tough decisions to make.”
Training camp wraps up with the Green vs White game at 11 a.m. on Monday morning at the Art Hauser Centre.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
