DBC Presents: Sadie St-Louis on Year 1

[sadie 939]

Hello, and welcome back to VHLM Today, brought to you by the DBC. Again, I'm Michael Burrows, and as we approach the start of the regular season we are proud to welcome another GM on the air today in Sadie St-Louis. She's coming fresh off her first year managing the Las Vegas Aces, having jumped into the front office surprisingly quickly after a long and successful career in the VHL. We go now to our Riga correspondent, Keita Mālina who's sitting down with St-Louis to ask her a few questions.

Keita Mālina: It's a pleasure to have you on today! We're all wondering about your perspective on management now that you've got your feet under you. After your first full season with Vegas, how are you feeling about the trajectory of the team going into year 2?

Sadie St-Louis: I feel much more positive going into this season; the group of players we have put together projects to work wonderfully, and the atmosphere around the team is great. We're intending on being among the top teams in the league by the end of the year, and I'm confident in the strategy and coaching we have going into it.

KM: Can you give us your perspective on Vegas' draft and free agency this season?

SSL: Our team has really undergone a noticeable transformation, as most in this league tend to do from year to year of course. After the loss of Ozzy Batty and Samuel Wazinski, we were lucky to be able to persuade a goalie of Oluwaseun's caliber to join our team as well as being able to add the steadfast Danny Ross to our top six. Kazuma Satou of course we see becoming an instant star for us, and a massive one at that. The team, the fans, and myself are overjoyed that we've managed to land who is regarded by most as the best player in the draft. We are also very grateful to have been able to bring back Matthias Gunnarsson through FA, one of our anchors on the blue line last year, as well as Jagger Bomb Jr, who acquainted himself with the city as a rookie last year; I see him becoming a very loved player here.

KM: How have you felt the fans and the city have received you?

SSL: Despite what was admittedly a bit of a disappointing result in S96, I feel wholly embraced by what are undoubtedly the best fans in the league. I know the idiots over in the Golden Knights management and fanbase tend to overshadow how great hockey can be here, and I think we have a base that will support us through whatever. The excitement around the draft has been unreal, especially with us being able to bring in someone as strong as Satou.

KM: What have you found to be the biggest obstacle or difficulty in your time GMing so far?

SSL: Most of it has to be dealing with the pressure there is on you to make the right moves, which is much different from the pressure media and fans placed on me as a player, even in times where I wasn't performing. It definitely makes you very hesitant in some ways because you don't want to ruin what you might currently have in a team.

KM: What are your plans for your future career, if you care to share? Might we see you as a VHL GM someday?

SSL: I certainly have held the ambition to GM a couple of VHL teams that are pretty close to my heart, but my commitment is to the Aces and building a lasting culture here, and a winning one as well. Vegas will be somewhere I'm sticking with for what I hope is a long time.

KM: Thank you so much for sitting down with me today; we at the DBC wish you and the Aces luck with your quest for the Cup this year! You've certainly got a lot of people behind you here in Riga.

SSL: Thanks for having me! It's always been a pleasure to do these interviews, and I'm hoping for a lot of positive things to talk about in the next one!

Edited 6 hours ago by sadie