Leading The Rush

[Daniel 565]

Only a month or so after retiring from the sport of hockey, young former SHL prospect Jonathan Killeen is back in the SMJHL; but in a very different role. Killeen will now be in charge of one of the SMJHL's most troubled franchises, the Yukon Rush, and will be hoping to pick them out of the hole they're currently in and to the top as a championship contender. We asked Killeen ahead of the shortly to be held VHLM Dispersal Draft what team needs he was targeting, and he replied "Everything. There's not a lot we can work with in the team already so we're going to have to rebuild through the ground up. We have 3 picks out of the top 4 so I'm looking to snag some high end talent in some different positions to allow us to really add some franchise players and use our picks in the 2nd and 3rd rounds to add the depth that we desperately need."

Yukon's rebuild won't be a short one, and while Killeen hopes to turn the team around this season he won't guarantee this as their glory year. "I'm going to add three players who I believe can lead the team into the future tomorrow and if all goes well we'll also gain a nice team to play around them. Beyond that, it depends on who becomes available this season on the waiver wire or in other circumstances that we might be able to add. As for now, I'm focused entirely on the draft and what it'll enable me to bring to the team."