Mynio, Iginla praised by coach

He’s got high-end skill, he’s got a heaviness and a grit to his game to go with it. High, high hockey IQ, as well, and strong work ethic.

Compared to his dad, he’s got similar, power-forward type characteristics, a guy that can put the puck in the back of net and also play with that edge and that sandpaper element.

Tij is going to be a hell of a player for us for years to come. This experience he’s getting now, just being around and getting to practise and play with all these high-end players every day, is huge for him. He’ll be the guy running things here sooner than later.

MH: Which areas of Sawyer Mynio’s game have you seen develop most this season? [Mynio is a drafteligible defenceman from Kamloops].

MO: He’s rounded out his game. Every aspect of his game has improved. His biggest strength is his skating. He’s such a good skater for a guy on the back end and for his size. He gets around the ice effortlessly. He hasn’t had the offensive opportunities to kind of pad the stats, playing behind [Kevin] Korchinski and [Jeremy] Hanzel. He hasn’t had the power play time.

ALLEN DOUGLAS/KTW

That being said, he’s still got 30-plus points and I think he was a plus-50 on the season. Two-hundred-foot player, defends really hard, really good on the penalty kill. In the second half of the season, he’s really come into his own, come out of his shell a little bit. He’s playing with a lot of confidence and getting more and more attention from the scouts.

People forget he was a 16-year-old last year playing a decent amount of minutes in the [WHL] final. He’s used that experience and carried that into this year. He’s a really big part of our back end. He kind of gets forgotten sometimes, playing behind some of those first-round NHL draft picks. There are some nights where he’s our best defenceman, some nights where he’s logging some of the most minutes on the back end, so he’s a very valuable piece of our team.

MH: What will be the difference in the series?

MO: It’s going to be tight. There’s no doubt. Whatever team can execute their game plan and be able to handle the momentum swings of the series. There’s going to be, I’m sure, highs and lows for both sides. Whoever can kind of respond to those situations the best and who can be more resilient when their backs are up against the wall. It’s going to be such a tight series. The way the teams handle those situations will be the difference.

WHICH TEAM IS READY FOR MOMENTUM SWINGS?

From A27

MH: Neither team has faced any real adversity in these playoffs. You kind of touched on it there, but how important will that aspect of the series be?

MO: It’s interesting. Both teams haven’t faced it in the playoffs yet. And this is a new year. We can look back at our experience last year, facing elimination so many times and battling through it. (Seattle won six elimination games in the 2022 WHL post-season and became the first team in league history to win two Game 7s on the road in the same playoffs.

Edmonton bested Seattle in six games in the league final.)

A lot of guys have experienced that first-hand, but this is a new season. It’s a new group of players. We can tap into that experience, but ultimately we have to show it again this year when we face those situations.