Don Waddell Appears on Rothman & Ice Today On His First Day In Columbus

The Don Waddell era has officially begun in the City of Columbus. Today he appeared on 97.1 The Fan's Rothman & Ice for the first time as he makes his media rounds. 

Waddell was asked about the head coaching position and what traits he looks for in a coach, Waddell said "He's got to have control of the locker room, he's got to get players on the same page. Not all the players get treated equally because some play 20 minutes and some play 13 minutes, but they all have to be together for us to have success as a team. You have different guys that have different value to the team. The players have to respect the coach. And how do you get respect as a coach? It's how you handle difficulty with the players, preparing the players for not only training camp, but the start of the season. To me, you got to be a good communicator and a listener at the same time, because players today are different than players were 20 years ago. Players have to know where they stand."

He was then asked how he would assess Coach Vincent and if he would fulfill his contract, he went on to say "I think everybody's got a shot. I want to meet with him, get to know him as a person, and find out what makes him tick as a person. The second thing is, let me find out what kind of coach he is. I can listen to him, talk about systems, what he thinks about power play, penalty kill, and all that. But then I can watch games too, to see if it all goes hand in hand. Remember it was a tough spot he got put into with everything that happened."

Waddell was then asked about Elvis Merzlikins and if he felt Merzlikins was a true number one goalie. "Great question, I'll answer it this way, four years ago I tried to trade for Elvis. This guy was on a course to be a pure starter for sure. We know what happened in his personal life, we also know he has three years left on his contract. I said It's my job to make sure we put every resource we can, to see if we can get Elvis back where he was. If we don't do that as an organization, we fail, I fail. Now, it may not work, it may work, but that's got to be our number one goal to put all the time and energy into that," Waddell said. 

He also says that he's in favor of young players developing their talents in the AHL, as well as how he thinks 18 and 19-year-olds should play the AHL as well unless they're a Fantilli type. 

He has a lot more to say and you're encouraged to listen to the interview. It starts around the 2:31:33 mark.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3dyHmMyIJA[/embed]

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