Q&A With Brad Ralph

No ECHL team has ever won four consecutive Kelly Cups.

The Florida Everblades have become accustomed to hearing that refrain in one form or another. After capturing their second straight Kelly Cup in 2023, they were faced with the task of becoming the first team in ECHL history to win three in a row.

Mission accomplished, although they had to come back from a 3-1 deficit against the Jacksonville Icemen in the first round to pull out the series in seven games before dispatching Orlando (4-1), Adirondack (4-2) and Kansas City (4-1), to capture their third straight Cup last season.

Florida’s three-peat is all the more remarkable considering the high turnover in a league like the ECHL, where players are shuttled up and down and move on to other teams or leagues during the off-season.

As the 2024-25 season begins, the Everblades are now faced with the task of making history again with a four-peat. Several key players from last year’s squad are gone including Bobo Carpenter, Matthew Wedman, Sean Josling and Joe Pendenza, who was team captain last season.

Those are big shoes to fill, but Florida general manager and head coach Brad Ralph has a knack for consistently replenishing the roster with top-tier talent. He snagged forward Alex Kile and defenseman Connor Doherty from the Maine Mariners. Other notable free agent signings include forwards Carson Gicewicz and Colton Hargrovealong with  blueliner Kris Myllari .

The best news is that Forwards Oliver Chau and Colin Theisen, along with standout goaltender Cam Johnson, will start the season with Florida after being sent down by the AHL’s Springfield Firebirds.

Ralph is beginning his ninth season as Everblades head coach. He is the ECHL’s all-time leader in playoff wins (95) and is fifth all-time in the league with 486 regular-season victories. The Hockey News sat down with Ralph to discuss why he embraces talk of a four-peat, how the ECHL is evolving as a developmental league, and whether an AHL or NHL coaching job is in his future. Some of the comments have been edited for clarity and brevity.

The Hockey News: The recent hurricanes have left a lot of destruction in Florida and surrounding states. How have the storms affected you and the team, both personally and in preparing for the season?

Brad Ralph: We were fortunate. Our training camp was put on pause for a couple of days while we all kind of prepared for it. But we’re back to normal now. We’re learning to deal with them. They’re certainly becoming a little more of a normal occurrence around here. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best when these things come through.

THN: Every season comes with its share of changes, and not just with roster turnover. You have a new affiliate in the St. Louis Blues, who haven’t dipped their toes in ECHL waters in recent years. How has that relationship been so far?

BR: It’s been great. Our owner, David Hoffmann, he’s from the Missouri area, so there are some ties with the Blues. So far, it’s been a really good working relationship with them and we’re excited to continue to build (that). We’re an organization that has a history of success and winning, and we’re just hoping to help them in any way we can.

THN: Each year that you go deep in the post-season means less time to recruit players, yet you continue to bring in top-tier talent. How do you balance consistent winning with recruiting the type of players that fit your culture and style of play?

BR: Well, it’s certainly a challenge. There are some other teams that have a little more lead time in terms of connecting to the players and potentially recruiting or signing free agents. We’re fortunate in Florida. We’re always a destination of interest to players. That being said, it’s very competitive. Everyone’s doing a great job using all the resources they have with their affiliates. It’s just a highly competitive market.

THN: Each of your Kelly Cup championships were won in different ways. Which one would you say was the most difficult to attain?

BR: The first one, no doubt about it. We’d lost in the finals to Colorado in 2018. The COVID year (when) we got shut down, I thought we had a team that could do it. Winning that first one… When you don’t think you can win it or you don’t know if you can win it and you do, it unlocks a certain level of confidence, a certain level of desire to do it again. I thought last year’s was arguably the most validating of the three. People think the Florida Everblades, it’s easy to recruit, it’s easy to play and win there. But it’s not, and I think if you can do it three times, maybe it highlights that we do know what we’re doing and we’re good at what we do. (Laughs).

THN: Some coaches prefer to block out the noise of making history and winning another championship. You not only embrace that talk, but encourage your players to do the same. Does that relieve a lot of the pressure that comes with such expectations?

BR: I don’t know if it relieves the pressure, but I do believe you’ve gotta establish goals. You have to have the confidence to go after them and for me, part of that is talking about it. I would rather talk about it than it be an elephant in the room. Let’s make the choice, let’s declare what we’re out to do and then let’s give everything we have to go get it.

THN: I read that after the Game 4 loss to Jacksonville which put you behind 3-1 in the first round of last season’s playoffs, Ben Masella, who had been captain the previous year, gave the team a pep talk, and you won the next three games. Was that the turning point in the series?

BR: It was a factor. I think anytime a former captain or former teammate can be around your players and breathe confidence into them and tell them they can do this, for sure, that was a factor in helping us win… Believing we could beat Jacksonville was half the battle that year.

THN: You lost a number of great players, but went out and got Alex Kile, Colton Hargrove, and several other big free agents. How much time do you think it will take for them to gel on the ice with the rest of the guys?

BR (chuckles): I think, obviously, you want to get off to a great start so you’re pacing the division, you’re leader of the pack. I’ve had years where you’re the frontrunner and for whatever reason, it doesn’t work out in the playoffs. Ideally, you have a gradual progression and climb into playing great hockey. We have a lot of good hockey players. The pace of practice, how we’re practicing, has been excellent. We’re a good hockey team, but I guess we won’t know until the season gets underway how good we are.

THN: Have you ever seen or coached a better goaltender at any level than Cam Johnson?

BR (laughs): Yes, I’ve coached better goalies. It’ll be hilarious when Cam (reads) this because he’ll give me the gears for saying that. But I’ve never coached a goalie that is more of a gamer than Cam, that is more of a winner than Cam. Cam plays his best hockey in the biggest moments. He’s a phenomenal teammate, he’s a guy who can rally a team and give them a ton of confidence. He’s a very calming factor on the ice. He makes going to the rink a little more fun every day.

THN: The ECHL continues to evolve as a developmental league for the AHL and NHL. What’s your take on the recent change of using the two-referee system during more games this season?

BR: It’s great. The games are moving so fast, it’s so difficult for the referees to see everything out there. When you have two referees, they’re not anticipating or guessing. They’re seeing the plays, making the correct calls. I think it’s better hockey, it’s cleaner. There’s less confusion, less chaos.

THN: You’re starting your ninth season with the Everblades and obviously feel at home there. Do you see yourself being behind the bench of an AHL or NHL team, and what would be the ideal situation for that to happen?

BR: I’m definitely interested. I want to be in the right spot. I do have a family that will always come first in making these life decisions and career moves. I certainly want to move up. But at the same time, I’m not willing to compromise (what I have in Florida). It’s gotta be the right timing for my family. I think it will happen at some point.