McLaren Interview After Rookie Season

[tcookie 934]

Addison McLaren's rise to prominence ahead of the S75 VHL Draft garnered him a lot of attention, and his status as a first-round pick coupled with strong play in the VHLM and back-to-back Founders Cup championships at the VHLM level saw that continue throughout S75, but as the promising young forward took his first steps in a VHL career with Riga in S76, things were much quieter.

McLaren's offensive numbers were unimpressive and overshadowed by huge rookie seasons from Linus Zetterstrom and Cabe McJake, as well as strong campaigns from Justin Lose, Dolant Fertitta, and Isau Damoose - and that's just on his own team. He'd finish the year with 18 goals and 37 points - just 21 points at even strength. It's not that McLaren didn't provide value to his team - he was an effective penalty killer and lead the team with 282 hits as well. But it certainly wasn't flashy, and we heard little of McLaren through the media all season outside of occasional questioning of his offensive upside. And while McLaren's calling card in his first two seasons had been the playoffs, he tasted defeat in a playoff series for the first time when Riga went 1-3 in the wildcard round, and he was mostly a non-factor.

So as we approach the off-season, we caught up with McLaren for a chat about how the season went and his expectations going forward.

Hey Addison, thanks for joining us today. So take us through how that first season in the VHL went and what the adjustment was like moving up from the VHLM?

Appreciate the invite, I'm happy to be here. Well, obviously, it wasn't entirely what I had in mind but I knew it was going to be tough playing against these guys. You wouldn't know it's such an adjustment if you look at how well Cabe (McJake) and Linus (Zetterstrom) transitioned but everything's faster and guys are more talented. We're such a young team and I wanted to try to take care of business in my own end first and foremost. I think I did a good job of that, but obviously, the production wasn't there. I'm my own worst critic and I'd have to admit it was a little bit disappointing. But you know, it's all about getting those wins, and the team really came together down the stretch. We played great hockey in the last half of the season.

What do you think the difference was between first half Riga and second half Riga?

Well, there were a lot of factors, right? Getting Calvin Harvey in net and warmed up was big, he was such a good goalie for this team a couple of seasons ago and I know he didn't have the start to the season he would've liked but he was the guy we knew he could be again in the second half and it was huge for us. There's also just so many rookies on one team, so we all started figuring things out as the season went on... the early games were full of rookie mistakes and we started to eliminate those later on. Then right near the deadline we made the huge trade to pickup Sasakamoose, Lagesson, and Sheilds... those guys know how to win and they brought a new mentality here. They're just so talented and it was great to be able to play with those guys and learn from them.

With the Reign playing so well leading into the playoffs, the wildcard round exit has to be a bit of a letdown. How is the team looking at that?

We definitely thought we had a chance to beat Prague and if you know me at all, you know I play to win and anything less than that is a disappointment. But you know, at least getting into the playoffs and getting to experience that last year was good for our team. There are some things to take away from this that will help our team... we know we'll be back and will have the opportunity to learn from what worked and what didn't work in the playoffs this time. But yeah I can't lie, I'm certainly not happy with how the season ended. I'll have to do a better job next season and I know as a team we're pretty united on that front. We all believe we have the group to bring the Continental Cup to Riga again.

Is there anything you personally are working on during the off-season?

Yeah, I think coming into the league, I might have been a little bit guilty of working too hard on my shot and should've spent more time on some of the more technical elements of the game. I think one thing that really became apparent to me this year was that I need to get stronger on the puck. Everyone at this level is faster, stronger, better defensively than VHL competition. So I'll be hitting the gym a lot and hopefully getting faster and stronger myself. That's the main goal and I think I can make some really meaningful improvements to my game this summer and come back and be the player I want to be in S77.

What exactly is the player you want to be in S77?

Just all around better than last season, I guess. I want to be a little more physical, a little better defensively, and obviously a lot better offensively. I want to be the guy you can rely on in all situations - powerplay, penalty kill, last minute of the game with a 1 goal lead or a 1 goal deficit. I don't have any particular statistical goals or anything... I know I've got what it takes to be one of the best players in this league, whatever that may mean statistically. The only real goal I have is the same one every year - I want my team to be the one hoisting the cup at season's end.

So what do you think needs to happen for that to happen? For Riga to... be the one hoisting the cup at season's end?

We've got so many good young players here. We just need to keep improving, that's all. We have guys here that know how to win - Sheilds has done it at the VHL level, Cabe and I won one together at the VHLM level, DaMoose and I won one together at the VHLM level a year later. So we've got the winners in the room, we've got the locker room atmosphere, a bunch of guys that get along. Certainly we've got the talent. Now we have that little bit of playoff experience from this year to build off of and I think we can get back to the playoffs and really make some noise next season... I don't think we need to do anything different than we are, really. Just need to all keep getting better as a team.

Well, thank you for your time Addison and good luck to you and your team in S77!

Thanks again for having me on. Happy to do this any time!

 

1185 words. Eligible for 2 weeks, might not use the second one since I'll probably have a VSN article... we'll see.

[tcookie 934]

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