AHL: QA with Spencer Machacek

Spencer Machacek entered the 2008-09 season as one of the Atlanta Thrashers' top prospects assigned to their AHL affiliate Chicago Wolves, and he hasn't disappointed. The 20-year-old rookie-pro has seen his offensive production steadily increase during the season. He led the Wolves in rookie scoring and was third in team scoring as of the NHL trade deadline, all while still playing a conscientious two-way game. That combination of offense, defense, and work ethic in the AHL may very well promote Machacek to the ATL in 2009-10.

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey recently had the opportunity to talk with Machacek. The young forward discussed his rookie pro season with the Wolves, adjusting to the pro game on and off the ice, his work-ethic-based game, his major junior career with the Vancouver Giants, his forced year of Tier II Junior A with the Brooks Bandits, and his respect for a former Maple Leaf center that played a game similar to his own.

McKeen's: I was looking at your game log in the media kit, and it looks like in your past 14 games you'd scored 8 goals and 6 assists, and you scored another goal tonight to continue that point-per-game pace. What's helped you pick things up a notch and really turn it up offensively?

Machacek: I think the team's success has obviously helped a lot. I think we've been coming together as a team and we've been winning games as well. January wasn't the greatest month for us and I felt we've turned around in February. Usually when the team's doing well, you've got personal success. I can't take full credit, obviously. My team's helped me out huge. Just getting those chances on the powerplay and the opportunity, you've always got to jump on those opportunities, and I try to think that every time I get out there.

McKeen's: This is your rookie-pro season, so what have been some of the biggest adjustments for you playing in the AHL coming out of major juniors?

Machacek: Well, first off, especially with our team, the age, the lifestyle, living out on your own instead of with family, cooking, and paying your own bills (smiles), that's all new. It's kind of exciting your first year. You don't want to look forward to paying bills, but our first year, me and my roommate are both in our first year, we kind of get excited when we get bills, because it feels good when you're paying it yourself and you know you're supporting yourself. The lifestyle, living out on your own, a lot of free time. We've got a lot of older guys with kids running around the dressing room. It's a little different than juniors. Just stuff like that. The guys have taken us in so well for the rookies. They've made it such an easy adjustment. Our leadership, [Jamie] Rivers, [Steve] Martins, those guys have taken us under the wing and have shown us the ropes really good. I think they've helped me a lot this year.

McKeen's: What have been the biggest adjustments on the ice?

Machacek: On the ice? The guys are bigger, and you don't have as much time to make a play. You kind of need to know what you're doing before you get the puck, whereas in juniors you can get it and then think what you're going to do. The start, to get adjusted to that, took some time. But, like I said, the guys helped you out to coach you through it and I think now that us rookies are more comfortable, we're playing with a lot more confidence.

McKeen's: Back in September you attended camp with the Thrashers and, as happens to a lot of rookie pros, you were assigned to the AHL. When Atlanta did that, what were some of the things they told you after camp and some of the areas that they wanted you to focus on improving this year?

Machacek: Well, I went to camp this year not really knowing what's going to happen. I had a really good camp. They were really happy with my play. They took me and Riley Holzapfel when we got sent down into the room together for our meetings. They don't do that very often, usually it's just one-on-one. But, they told us, "You guys are prospects and you guys played really well here. We've got to get down in numbers," and they just told us to keep working hard and keeping doing what you're doing and to try to get better at every practice with your skating, me personally my skating and my shot. In junior, you have more time to shoot. Here, you've got to get that off quicker. So, mostly just skating and shot, and then just being able to out-battle the stronger guys here.

McKeen's: Is Holzpafel the one you're rooming with?

Machacek: Yeah.

McKeen's: It looks like you guys have been, I think three out of the four times I've seen you guys play, it seems like you've been on the same line. So, tell me about the chemistry you two guys have.

Machacek: We played against each other growing up in the WHL. We never played with each other. Then, at camp, rookie camps, we played with each other, and then the exhibition game we got to get into, we were on a line of myself, Holzapfel, and [Eric] Boulton. Since then, we've kind of been together off and on, but we've played together most of the year, like you said. We just kind of know each other's game. We play a kind of similar game. It's a lot easier when you know where a guy's going to be when your back's to him. I think we build that chemistry off of playing together, and we live together, and then playing against each other. So, there are a lot of things we do together, and I think that's helped a lot. He's a great player. He sees the ice well and he finds me a lot of times.

McKeen's: We've talked some about improvements, but what would you say are the strengths of your game already and the style of game you play?

Machacek: I think my strengths are my work ethic, first off all. I always want to be the hardest-working guy on the ice, and finishing every one of my checks. I kind of concentrate on being a two-way forward. For me, I don't like getting scored on, I really take pride in my own zone. For a defense aspect, I like to block shots and all of that. For the offense aspect, I think down low in the corners, now with the new rules where the "d" can't hold you, if you can work with those quick, tight turns, I think that's one of my biggest assets. Being able to do the tight turns down low, they can't hold you without taking a penalty now. Obviously, in the old days, you couldn't do it that easy. But, now, I think that, and I've been working a lot on that with our skills guy in Chicago, Kenny McCudden. I think that and taking pucks to the net, and my battle level, are my assets.

McKeen's: Yeah. Back in the day, the 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 defenseman would have this huge wingspan and just hold you and…

Machacek: Throw their weight.

McKeen's: Yeah, just grab and throw you into the corner. Now, heading into this season, what were some of the goals you set for yourself?

Machacek: I'm not the type of person that sets goals. Well, obviously I have goals, but I don't like to set them like "How many goals am I going to score?" Because it's kind of my goal to work hard every day and be one of the hardest workers and just get better every day. That's my goal. Obviously, my dream is to get to the NHL, so I want to get better at anything I can do. Anything the coaches tell me to do, to work on, I try to work on that so I can get better. That's mainly just the goals. Obviously, coming to the AHL, it's a huge honor, it's a great league. I don't know if people really respect the league as much as they should. It's a great league and there's great players here. I don't know what the percentage is of guys that play here before the NHL, but it's really high, right? So, a lot of guys have come through here. You've just got to take your time here. Here, it's more of a development than in the NHL. I think our coaching staff and our GM have done that for us young guys tremendously and it's helped us a lot.

McKeen's: Part of your experience prior to coming to the AHL, you played three seasons of major juniors with the Vancouver Giants, one of which ended extremely well. Tell me a bit about that season and winning the Memorial Cup, and then tell me about those WHL finals as well.

Machacek: Well, going to Vancouver, I was 17, I'll kind of go over my whole career. I was 17, went in there, and we were kind of a team no one knew about, and we ended up winning the WHL that year against Moose Jaw. Holzapfel was on that team. Then we lost the Memorial Cup. The next year, I had a bigger role, I wasn't a rookie. I was on a shutdown line throughout the playoffs. We played against Medicine Hat in the WHL Finals, and it was a huge battle. We both knew we were going to the Memorial Cup, but both teams wanted to win that and go through the front door. It came down to double-overtime in Game 7. I remember I was out for that goal when they scored that. It hurt a lot, but knowing you were going to the Memorial Cup, I think it'd be a lot harder if we didn't get to go. Then, having that chance to play them in the finals of the Memorial Cup, it's just kind of Cinderella. I scored an empty net goal in that game with 46 seconds left, and that was the biggest goal I've scored in my life, the easiest goal and the biggest goal. It was the best feeling, winning that championship. There's guys in the NHL who were on my team, and there are guys we play against in the AHL, Brett Festerling was our captain. So, you have a bond with those guys. I keep in touch with Vancouver still. The GM, the coach, Don Hay, they're so good to us. That's where I live in the summers and I train out there now. I just love it out there and have the time. If I didn't play there, without Don Hay and then Scott [Bonner] helping me out, I don't think I could be here today.

McKeen's: In your three years of major juniors, what were the areas of your game that developed the most?

Machacek: I got a lot opportunity in juniors. In my first year, I got to play with Gilbert Brule, who came down from the NHL. So, that helped a lot. Just gaining the confidence and, like I've told, down low with the puck. You're not going to see me dangle a guy. I might get a lucky one, but not very often. I'm not going to dangle guys, I'm going to power that puck in the net, and I score mostly right around the crease. When you know your role and you do that, you're going to get more goals than if you think you're a dangler. I know I'm not a dangler, I know I'm a gritty guy that takes pucks to the net. I think those roles, every team needs both kinds of players.

McKeen's: If memory serves correct, you played in the ADP Russia-Canada Series. Tell me about being named to that team and your role on it.

Machacek: Yeah, I played two years on that team. It's a huge honor to play for my league, kind of an All-Star Game but not, and playing against Europeans, is fun as well. It's kind of a tryout to World Juniors. I was unfortunate that I didn't get to make it to World Juniors. I wanted to really bad, but you can't really dwell on it. But, those were great experiences to kind of get used to how Europeans play. It was fun to meet all the guys in your league, too.

McKeen's: Devin Setoguchi never played in the World Juniors and he's doing just fine this season.

Machacek: Yeah.

McKeen's: You'll be able to move forward, I'm sure. Now, before major juniors, you played a year of Tier II with the Brooks Bandits. You were 16 most of that year (15 at first), tell me a bit about that, your development there, and how it compared to the WHL?

Machacek: What happened is I got listed but I didn't get drafted in the WHL. I got listed by Vancouver and went to their camp. I had a great camp with Vancouver as a 16-year-old and I wanted to play an exhibition game, but my mom and I had talked before I went to camp, I was going to go to school. So, I dressed in the game, I was ready to go for exhibition, and my mom called the GM and said, "He's not playing." So then I went to Tier II. Didn't talk to my mom for the whole way home, because I was going to play there and not Tier II, but, I think that was probably one of the best decisions in my career, because I probably wouldn't have played as much in Vancouver as a 16-year-old, and I got a lot of icetime in Brooks. Being on a team in Brooks, they'd never made a playoffs, and we were the first team to do it. It's a small town, the whole town is around it. It was pretty cool. You get 800 fans, max, but it feels like you've got 10,000 there. It was great development. Coach Kevin Higo there and Bruce Bell gave me a lot of opportunity. It helped me develop into the player I was in the WHL. Going up as a 17-year-old, I'm not that youngest guy. It was much easier than playing in the WHL as a 16-year-old, probably.

McKeen's: Being Thrashers property, you've done some of their camps, the development camps and training camp. In your time at those camps, who are some of your fellow Thrasher prospects that have impressed you the most and why?

Machacek: I gone through a couple summer camps, a couple rookie camps, and a couple camps. My first, we went there, it was a lot of the guys that I'm playing with now, with Brett Sterling, Jordan LaVallee, Joey Crabb. All the guys that were first-year AHL, they came to the summer camp. Those guys, obviously, have become great players for Chicago and now even for Atlanta they've played some games. I think guys that really stuck out, this year, Zach Bogosian. That guy is a great player. He's so young and so strong and mature. I became pretty good buddies with him. Angelo Esposito got traded, came to us, he fit in pretty good, a pretty good kid, too. They've got a lot of good young prospects coming up. It's pretty good for Atlanta's future.

McKeen's: Now, amongst Atlanta's older players, who are some of the veteran Thrashers who have impressed you the most and why?

Machacek: The first year I went, obviously you're kind of in awe. "I'm on the ice with Kovalchuk. Wow!" Kovalchuk, and [Marian] Hossa were there for my first year, and he was a great player. They're all pretty good to the young guys. [Johan] Hedberg's a really good guy. He really knows a lot about you. You're surprised. It makes you feel good when a guy in the NHL knows where you've been playing and all of that. The game I got, the exhibition game, I played with Boulton, He was so good to Holzapfel and me. It made the game so much easier. Most of the time you'd be so nervous, but he made it so much easier, made us so comfortable. So, I can't say anything bad about any of the players up there.

McKeen's: Going back to your major junior career, who were some of your opponents that impressed you the most and who were the most difficult, if there's any difference between the two.

Machacek: Like opponents as in team wise or player wise?

McKeen's: Player wise.

Machacek: Player wise, Kris Russell from Medicine Hat, Darren Helm, those guys were pretty dominant in the league. My first year, they had Troy Brouwer, who's now with the Blackhawks, and Dustin Boyd. Those players were really tough to play against. Team wise, us and Kelowna always had a huge rivalry. Troy Bodie, a couple guys were on that team, Blake Comeau. Had huge battles with them, then it turned to Everett. Everett had a great coach, [Kevin] Constantine was coaching them, and great systems, and it was hard to play against them. So, team wise, probably Everett and Kelowna were the toughest rivals we had.

McKeen's: Going way back to your youth, when did you first start playing and how did you get that start?

Machacek: I was four or turning five. So many times I've been asked this question, but I have no clue how I started. I have no recollection. My dad doesn't play, uncle, nothing. They just kind of gave me a chance. My parents were like, "You want to try it?" "Sure." They let me try pretty much everything. I tried every sport and hockey was definitely my number one. I loved it. Growing up, the Sutters, going to their camps helped me a lot. I ended up working for them when I was 14, 15, 16. I worked for them at the camp that I went to when I was a kid. So, I think they helped me a lot when I was a kid.

McKeen's: What were some of the organizations that you skated for through the ranks prior to playing for Brooks?

Machacek: It's called the LAA, the Lethbridge Athletic Association. It's kind of the minor hockey there. You grew up playing that. Going through there, I had some great coaches. My year before going to junior, a midget 15-year-old league, just a league of 15-year-olds, and my coach was Bruce Bell. He played a couple hundred games in the NHL, I don't know if you know him. He was our coach there and he was really kind of a hard (pauses), hard (pauses) coach (smiles). Him, he helped me a lot, too. Guys like that just give you the opportunity to work so hard. That really showed that if you worked so hard, you could really get what you want.

McKeen's: Lastly, who were some of your favorite players growing up and why and who are some players today that you'd like to equate to?

Machacek: Growing up, favorite player was Doug Gilmour. I just liked how he played a really gritty game, and I liked the Maple Leafs. He was definitely my favorite player growing up. Guys now who I'd like to be like are guys like [Tomas] Holmstrom. He's a really gritty guy, standing in front of the net, always taking a beating on the powerplay. Obviously I'd love to be a guy like Alexander Ovechkin, but I know that's not in my cards. So, a guy like Holmstrom, and all the gritty guys in the NHL. I can't think any more off the top of my head (pauses), [Ethan] Moreau works really hard and takes a lot of beatings. Guys like that, who I kind of have the same type of game, or I try to. Obviously they do it a lot better (chuckles). But, hopefully one day I can get to that level.