When Rögle changed their coach in the middle of last season, the team decided to change the whole front office structure. Former SHL stars and Canadian twins Cam and Chris Abbott were brought in as head coach and GM respectively. They changed a club that fought to avoid relegation to a team that looks to challenge for the title in the future.
When Cam Abbott took over the team, Rögle was at the bottom of the table with 11 points in 18 games, and looked certain to go to the relegation series. But coach Abbott managed to avoid the relegation series with 10 points to spare and had a almost a 1.5 points-per-game average in the 34 games that he was in charge. The change that Abbott brought, both on and off the ice, is obvious and Rögle is considered by many to be a dark horse team in SHL this upcoming season.
We got the chance to sit down with Abbott, who spoke about his development as a coach, and the challenges that would face a foreign coach at NHL level. The Sarnia native gives his honest thoughts in an interview that gives us a look at how a successful player has transformed himself into a coach.
Previous guest of the podcast Sam Hallam described Cam Abbott, who was his U20 team’s coach with the Växjö Lakers highly.
“Passionate. That’s the first word, passionate,” he said, while pointing out that Abbott puts in all those extra hours that a former player might not realize a coach has to put in.
[iTunes]
