O'Dette spent the past four seasons as the Thunderbirds primary assistant coach, Konowalchuk's right hand man. Along with assistant coach Tyler Alos and goaltending coach Ian Gordon they formed a coaching staff that took the franchise to heights they've never experienced. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and by promoting O'Dette the T-Birds franchise will have as much coaching continuity as is possible, after you lose the main man, as they transition off their championship season.
O'Dette has head coaching experience on his resume, having served as a head coach in the ECHL prior to joining Konowalchuk's staff. He won't be overwhelmed by the increased responsibilities. But the reality is, it is his experience as a T-Birds assistant coach that put him above the pack in the coaching search. It was his time working with the players he inherits on this team, and the familiarity he has with the younger players coming into the fold this next season, and the next few season's beyond this one, that made him such an attractive candidate to follow Konowalchuk as the main man behind the bench.
One of O'Dette's main roles the past four seasons has been to handle the defensive corps. Since his arrival in the South Sound, the T-Birds have been one of the top penalty killing teams in the WHL as well and that too was an area he handled in the Konowalchuk regime.
He was a defenseman in his playing days in the OHL, AHL and ECHL. In 1994 he was drafted into the NHL by the Florida Panthers. During his time with the T-Birds he's helped mold two WHL Defenseman of the Year Award winners in Shea Theodore and Ethan Bear. Since arriving in Kent, he helped those two, and now Jarret Tyszka get drafted into the NHL, while another, Turner Ottenbreit, has attended three NHL development camps.
There is a tendency to read into that then, that O'Dette would then be a "defensive-minded" coach. But remember, all three of those NHL drafted players mentioned are 200-foot players. Theodore and Bear are the two highest scoring defensemen in franchise history and were among the top scoring defensemen in the league throughout their WHL careers.
I would not expect there to be too much change in the way the Thunderbirds play under O'Dette, compared to how they played with Konowalchuk at the helm. O'Dette played a significant role in shaping the T-Birds style of play the past four years and he learned a good deal working with Kono. The key will be finding a couple of assistants to add to O'Dette's staff who fit the T-Birds style.
O'Dette begins his head coaching tenure with the T-Birds in a similar fashion to how Konowalchuk began his, with a roster in transition. Like Konowalchuk, O'Dette will have some solid WHL veterans to work with but will get the opportunity to develop a roster over the next two seasons that will feature a lot of fresh faces. Gone is the core group of Barzal, Eansor, Gropp, Kolesar and Bear that led this team the last four seasons. O'Dette will get to build a new core group to carry this club. The one major difference for O'Dette is those veterans and even some of those younger players he inherits, know what it takes to earn the title "Champions".
Another bit of history was made with the O'Dette hire. He becomes the first head coach in franchise history to have a Twitter account. Don't expect a lot of tweets though. Even before being named head coach, his tweets were few and far between. No surprise that his tweets are all team or hockey related. His last one? Congrats to
