Growlers Pick First GM, Coach

The Milwaukee Growlers, having relocated from Dakota in the offseason, are getting settled into their new hometown.  Owner Colin Mills has promised competitive hockey to the fans in Cream City.  This week, Mills chose the man who will build the Growlers’ new roster, and the man who will guide them behind the bench.  One of them is a very familiar face, known widely to SHL fans everywhere; the other is known only to a handful of diehards.

Rodney Reagle

As the coach, Mills tapped the SHL’s clown prince, Rodney Reagle.  Reagle spent four seasons as coach of the Washington Galaxy, guiding the team to a 129-105-10 record and two appearances in the SHL Finals.  Since being fired by the Galaxy at the end of the 2018 season, Reagle became a television broadcaster, a role in which he excelled.  Some thought that he would never return to coaching.

But, in Reagle’s words, “my wife got tired of having me around the house all the time.”  So when Milwaukee came calling, “I packed up my clown nose and my costumes and I was on my way!”

The coach is well known for dressing up in costumes on the bench and for his goofy postgame interviews. According to Mills, however, Reagle got the job for his hockey acumen.  “Rodney is famous for his sense of humor, but he’s also got a great mind for the game,” the owner said.  “He knows how to keep the mood light in the locker room, but he’s also able to keep his teams focused on winning.  He’s a tremendous asset for us to build around.”

“As much as I enjoyed broadcasting, I’m really glad to be back behind the bench,” said Reagle.  “And I’m very excited to work for someone whose sense of humor is just as wacky as mine.  The rest of the league probably isn’t ready for that, but I sure am.”

While Reagle is a name most fans know, new GM Ken Lindstrom is more of a mystery.  The 41-year-old Lindstrom has been serving as the GM of the Saskatchewan Shockers‘ minor-league affiliate, the Virginia Rhinos.  During his time in Virginia, Lindstrom oversaw a talented young roster that won a title and made four straight trips to the Finals.

Lindstrom is highly regarded in SHL circles, but his choice came as a bit of a surprise given that Mills has expressed a desire to spend and add veterans to the roster.  Many expected he would pick an experienced GM such as Ace Adams, Reagle’s former boss in DC.  But according to Mills, he favored Lindstrom because of his skills as a talent evaluator.  “We’ve got a lot of quality young players in our system,” said the owner, “and I’m looking to Kenny to identify the building-block prospects and the young guys we might be able to flip for quality veterans.  Kenny’s a hockey guy to his bones. I’m confident that he’s the right man for the job.”

The move brings Lindstrom, a native of neighboring Minnesota, home to the Upper Midwest.  “I always hoped my career would lead me back close to home,” said Lindstrom.  “I’m looking forward to leaving tickets for my family at our games.”

The new GM is aware of the owner’s high expectations, and he isn’t fazed them.  “I know [Mills is] not expecting us to stay in the cellar,” Lindstrom said.  “He’s giving me the resources to build a championship team, and that’s just what I intend to do.”

Lindstrom is no stranger to the tougher side of the game.  He has a scar at the top of his nose, the result of taking a puck to the face during his playing days.  “They said if the puck had been an inch or two over, I might have lost my eye,” he noted.  “But that’s the price you pay to play the game you love.  That’s the kind of spirit I’m looking for in my players.”

Night Hire Ex-Dakota Coach Dahlgren

To say that the New York Night are hungry for a title is an understatement.  During their time in the SHL, New York has had rosters full of stars, with the inflated payrolls and expectations that come with them.  They’ve had more than their share of controversies, both internal and external.  They’ve had outspoken coaches with big personalities.  What they haven’t had, despite being one of the SHL’s founding franchises, is a championship — or even a postseason appearance.

Flim Dahlgren

Now, in hopes of ending their playoff drought, the Night are turning to an unorthodox choice: a coach who has never had a winning season and is known for being quietly thoughtful rather than brash and bombastic.  In short, Flim Dahlgren doesn’t seem like the kind of coach New York would hire… and that’s why they think he’s just the right man for the job.

“They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results,” said Night GM Jay McKay.  “So we think it’s time for a different kind of voice around here, and Flim is that voice.”

This isn’t the first time the Night have considered the Minnesota native as their bench boss.  After they fired Preston Rivers in 2016, the Night interviewed Dahlgren, and he was reportedly on their list of finalists.  Ultimately, though, the team hired Nick Foster. In nearly four seasons with the team, Foster restored the team’s swagger and turned New York from a joke into a contender, but he couldn’t get the team to the promised land and they fired him with a month to go in the 2020 season.

In the meantime, Dahlgren signed on as the head coach of the Dakota Jackalopes, a perpetually cash-strapped team that bled talent year after year.  The coach was unable to work miracles with his talent-strapped roster, as his 63-110-19 record attested, but he won acclaim around the league for keeping his young team focused on the game instead of the team’s financial woes. He also gained a reputation as a bit of a philosopher for his wry postgame interviews.

“The situation in Dakota was rough, no question about that,” said McKay.  “I think most of us, in a situation like that, we’d probably be more worried about whether we were going to get paid than whether the team was ready to play.  But Flim was a real professional, and he kept that chaos out of the locker room.  He kept their heads on the ice, and he did a great job growing young talent.  I expect that he can bring that same level-headed, focused approach here.  And I know he’ll be glad to have his best players actually stay around for a change.”

For his part, Dahlgren displayed the same dry humor that earned him so many admirers in Dakota.  “I’m told that [owner Marvin] Kingman and the entire organization are extremely eager for a championship,” the new bench boss said.  “So naturally, they turned to a no-name coach from flyover country who’s never won anything.  Seems like the obvious move.  But as Jay pointed out, I’m used to coaching in pressure-filled circumstances.  When your players keep asking you if their next paycheck is going to bounce, it doesn’t get much more pressure-filled than that.  The situation here obviously brings a different sort of pressure, but I welcome the challenge.”

The coach said that he plans to bring a different tone to the locker room.  “It’s no secret that the previous regime relied on an us-against-the-world approach to motivate the team,” said Dahlgren.  “He relished being the league villain.  That can be an effective approach, but it has its limits.  I believe in a commitment to excellence, to playing sound hockey and achieving victory, and I plan to take that approach. It may mean fewer colorful quotes for you to write about, but wins are more interesting than colorful quotes, in my opinion.”

Dahlgren’s success will hinge on whether he can get the Night’s players, who have often been knocked for prioritizing personal stats over victories, to buy in to his approach. C Brock Manning says he’s willing to give it a try.  “I know I’m tired of us being the underachievers,” Manning said. “There’s enough talent around here for us to win the Vandy.  Time for us to go do it!”