Assuming he’s back at the helm of the Flin Flon Bombers this fall, Mike Reagan is confident he can build the championship squad that narrowly eluded fans this season.
Reagan is hoping for a one-year contract extension – possibly his last with the Bombers – but a meeting with team officials Monday failed to yield a deal. Talks were to continue.
“I would like to think that I’m going to be back, but at the end of the day I don’t have a contract for next year right now,” said the veteran head coach and next year right now,” said the veteran head coach and GM.
“If I’m going to be coaching junior A next year, then Flin Flon is the place that I want to be.”
Reagan, who became coach and GM in 2007, said he is getting to the point in his career where he’s considering different options. Assuming he and the Bombers agree to a one-year deal, he said he would be “leaning towards” making this his final season in Flin Flon.
“But things can change,” he added. “I think a big reason why I want to come back is I feel like the job’s not done and I’m very excited about the returning guys that we do have.”
That excitement is warranted.
While age has cost the Bombers their entire top line of Joel Kocur, Alex Smith and Brandon Switzer, Reagan has no shortage of trade bait to help fill in the gaps. He is also encouraged by a couple of prospects.
“To be realistic I think we’re looking to bring in two high-end forwards, and if we can do that I think we’re in good shape,” he said.
There is also room for returning players to take their game to the next level. Reagan sees a lot of upside in 26-point man Greyson Reitmeier, and he envisions Brandon Lesko and Nick Shumlanski skating on the second line.
Reagan said the Bombers pretty much lost their top line last season and recovered by assembling the Kocur-Smith-Switzer combination by drawing from the second and third lines.
“With every year that you have guys graduating, it opens up an opportunity for other guys to step up,” he said.
Reagan expects to be active on the trade front this summer. With eight returning defencemen, he will definitely consider thinning out the back end for help up front.
The Bombers also have what Reagan calls “the two best returning goaltenders in the league” in Zac Robidoux and Brenden Newton. Could one of them end up on the market?
“Right now the season is pretty fresh in our mind and we don’t want to make moves on emotion,” Reagan said. “We’ve got to really sit back and look at things. At the end of the day, if I get the right offer for someone, I’ve got to really look at it seriously. I think everybody is well aware that we’ve got two great goaltenders, and I’m sure I’m going to be getting some phone calls at some point. But we also really like both kids and think that you need two good goaltenders to get a championship, and we don’t want to overlook the fact that we’ve got that right now.”
Other than Kocur, Smith and Switzer, the Bombers have lost captain Tyson Empey and reliable blueliner Pierre-Luc Morin. Both have aged out of the SJHL.
Of the team’s eligible returnees, Reagan said one – he did not say who – is uncertain whether he wants to play hockey next season.
“Other than that all the guys are excited about the opportunity to get back to where we were and hopefully take it one step further,” he said.
