When his hockey team takes the Wesbanco Arena ice tomorrow evening against the Indy Fuel, Derek Army will not be thinking about his family’s turkey and all the fixings, but he will be a thankful man.
Of course, he feels fortunate to have found and married his wife Jenn, and his son Boone has been a bigger blessing than Army ever imagined. But after joining the Nailers as a rookie in 2014 and spending the majority of his playing career in Wheeling, he is now THE head coach with no “interim” attached.
“I’m not going to lie,” the 30-year-old Rhode Island native said. “I do feel very lucky.”
Not only does a head coach on the ECHL level instruct and develop the players, but the individual also serves as the general manager of hockey operations. Army, though, does not view the double duty as extra work but instead as an opportunity to implement his way of playing the game.
“When you are bringing together a team, it’s about creating an identity as something I’ve known to be successful in this league,” Army said. “But it also has be a team that can play against whatever style the other team wants to play. I think we’re tough, we’re big, and we’re physical, so if they want to play a hard game, I think that’s something that will work for us because our goal is to wear you down.
“We also have guys with a lot of skill and who play the game really well,” he said. “So, that’s why I feel we are able to play whatever kind of game we have to play. I also thought last year’s group was a good one even though we lost more than we won, but it was important for a lot of these young guys to go through that and learn from that. We have good leadership and a tight team because of that.”
Gotta Want It
The Nailers, the ECHL affiliate to the Pittsburgh Penguins, are set to enter tomorrow evening’s game in fifth place in the ECHL’s Central Division with a 5-6 record. Defending Kelly Cup champions Fort Wayne leads the division with an 8-3 mark (17 points) and Toledo (8-4) are in second with 16.
But in the ECHL, known as the equivalent to “double-A hockey” in a minor-league system, development of individual players takes a higher priority than the club’s win-loss record.
“That’s why, for me as a coach, I want my players to be hungry like I was when I was playing. During those days, I dreamed a lot about making it to the NHL, and I kind of got there once for an exhibition game,” Army recalled. “If a player just wants to be the best hockey player they can be, he’s my kind of player, and once they get here to Wheeling, they quickly realize how cool of a town this place really is.
“But again, if you want to be a hockey player who dreams of moving up, that’s who I want to coach because those are the guys I want to help get to the next level,” he said. “I want this time to identify with this city so they work hard and play with grit. I want a team that’s never going to quit because they’re just going to keep coming. That’s the kind of makeup I see working here in Wheeling.”
Since the 2021-22 season is Army’s first full campaign as the head coach/GM, this year’s Nailers roster is purely his creation, and he digs it.
“I really like our team makeup, and we have a good locker room because of that fact,” the head coach explained. “We have great morale, and the camaraderie between teammates is terrific. It actually reminds of the 2016 Wheeling team that went to the finals.
“Each team in the ECHL attracts different kinds of players because of where the team is located,” he said. “Some guys who are AHL bubble players want to be in Florida, so that’s who they sign with, and they take their girlfriends there for the great weather. Or maybe a player wants to play for South Carolina for the weather and other reasons. Who knows? Here is Wheeling, though? We want young, hungry players. We want guys who want to develop into NHL players like so many Nailers have in the past.”
Up and Down
Just as Army yo-yoed between the ECHL and the AHL, so will many of his players during the course of the current season. In fact, the head coach already has lost two goalies to moves made by the Pittsburgh organization, and that is why the Nailers recently acquired goaltender Stefanos Lekkas from the Orlando Solar Bears in exchange for future considerations.
According to the press release, Lekkas, 25, is currently playing in his second professional season, after experiencing a very unique rookie campaign. Stefanos began the 2020-21 season with the Fort Wayne Komets, and had tremendous success at the ECHL level, as he posted a 7-2-2 record, a 2.15 goals against average, and a .914 save percentage.
That performance earned him a call to the AHL, as he went on to play in seven games with the Rochester Americans, which included a 32-save effort in a 3-1 victory over Syracuse for his first AHL win. However, that wasn’t the final stop on the ladder for the netminder, who also suited up as the backup goalie for the Buffalo Sabres. So far this season, Lekkas has gone 1-1-0, appearing in one game each for the Komets and Orlando Solar Bears.
“Anyone who plays on the ECHL level wants to move up,” Army said. “When it happens, you’re happy for them,, but then you have to immediately look at your roster and immediately figure out what you need to do for your team from that point on.”
When those situations arise, Army finds himself looking into a mirror … sort of.
“I think I would fit in with this team, and that’s because I think every coach who develops his team sees himself in some of those players. I just think that’s natural on the ECHL level when the head coaches are the general managers, too,” Army explained. “When I played for Wheeling, I showed up to work each day, and I played as hard as I could to win, and that’s the same thing I want from my players. That’s what I expect from myself, so that’s what I expect from these guys.
“Listen, I miss parts of being a player, but now as the head coach there’s a new set of goals that I make for myself and for our players, and my job is to make sure those goals are met,” he insisted. “It’s about making sure these players are prepared for our games. That’s my mindset now, and it is no different than when I was a player because, back then, I was as prepared as possible for that evening’s opponent.”
