Tyler Steenbergen eyes pro hockey debut, progress in Coyotes’ system

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona Coyotes prospect Tyler Steenbergen had a monster season with his junior team, the Swift Current Broncos, last year. It doesn’t look like he’ll do it again.

That’s because the expectation is that he makes the leap to the American Hockey League in 2018-19, a season removed from scoring 102 points (47 goals, 55 assists) in 56 games and finishing tied for sixth in points in the WHL. He also scored the go-ahead goal for Team Canada in the gold medal game of the IIHF World Junior Championship, and had 51 goals the year before.

“He’s a kid that scored 50-some-odd goals in the Western Hockey League, so his shot and his release is really good,” said Tucson Roadrunners assistant coach Steve Potvin. “He definitely finds those spots where he can get that release off. He’s a quick player that’s not afraid of getting in the corners and being aggressive and coming out with the puck and taking it to the net.”

Steenbergen’s spot this year in Tucson isn’t guaranteed. “You’ve still got to make the team,” he said. But as he presumably makes his debut in professional hockey, he may not score with the same ease that he did in Swift Current.

“You’re used to being, when you’re in the WHL, you’re the top echelon,” Potvin said. “That pyramid gets a little shorter and smaller at the top, and obviously the skill and the strength and the size and the speed increases. Every player has to make that adjustment.”

He credits his head coach Manny Viveiros — now an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers — and his linemates Glenn Gawdin and Aleksi Heponiemi, who finished second and third in the league in points — with his big season. It also helped that he had more confidence going into last season, as he had been drafted in the fifth round by the Coyotes last summer, 128th overall.

Now comes the test of Steenbergen’s abilities against tougher competition.

“I had a great summer, I got a lot stronger, but you know you’re playing against men going into pros, so it will be a lot different,” he said. “Going into the corners, you’ve got to win those small battles. It’s going to be hard to get used to, but once I’m there and used to it, I think I’ll do pretty good.”

Steenbergen, who stands at 5-foot-10 and 187 pounds, said that strength would be the area with the biggest need for improvement for him as he starts his pro hockey career this year.

“I think for any junior player, trying to break through the NHL level, I mean just the habits and understanding how to play quick and keep the puck moving,” Potvin said. “A little size and strength, you can always build and improve on. Skating and speed, the first three strides and the importance of your strides. Understanding the continuum from forward offensively-speaking to defensively speaking and just being able to play fast.

“And a lot of times it’s just a mindset and adapting to that type of environment.”

The Alberta native knows there will be adjustments to be made both on and off the ice.

“[I’m] a little nervous, but you’ve got to learn from older guys in camp, you watch what the NHL guys do, and you know eventually you want to make that jump,” he said. “You’re going to be living on your own, you’ve got to be taking care of yourself a lot more.

“It will be a learning curve but I’m looking forward to it.”

Another adjustment: His new coach. He won’t be alone in that regard, since the entire Roadrunners team will be led by a new coach this year, Jay Varady, who took over for Mike Van Ryn after he resigned from the position to take a job with the St. Louis Blues.

Steenbergen spent most of the summer in Arizona and said he familiarized himself some already with Varady. His opinion of the first-year bench boss: So far, so good — just like Steenbergen’s hockey career.

“As long as you buy in and listen to what they say, it will be good.”

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