ROSEMONT, Ill. – With the reaffiliation of the Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Wolves over the summer, a new coaching staff had to assemble. Along with head coach Cam Abbott, the new-look Wolves filled out their staff by adding Dan Price and Spiros Anastas as assistants.
Anastas introduced himself as a “no offense, all defense” kind of player, so it seemed only a natural fit for this chat to take place. For those unaware, Coach Anastas runs the PK and coaches the defensive “unit” of the Chicago Wolves.
Within just a few seconds of research, however, I noticed a unique aspect of Anastas’ coaching history – nations like Greece, South Korea, and China appearing on his resume as a bench boss.
How does this even happen?
I’m happy to say I learned a lot more from Coach Anastas than I ever had anticipated, from the IIHF rotations in each subdivision to the philosophy and identity this coaching staff wishes to exude into the lineup every night. I hope that the audience feels the same way by the end of the chat.
Andrew Rinaldi: Growing up in Mississauga and throughout your playing career, has that “no offense, all defense” mindset always been a part of your identity?
Spiros Anastas: A little bit. When you’re younger going up through the ranks, you move up by being one of the better guys on the ice. So I put up points in AA, AAA and getting into junior. But I was real proud of my defensive efforts. I was a defenseman but I also played a little bit of center. In both roles, I always thought that being on the defensive side of the puck was paramount to my success. I wasn’t the most skilled with the puck, but I was a pretty good skater and I played fearless. That resulted in me being a good penalty killer and somebody that was always above the puck.
From an early age, I really put a lot of pride in my defensive game.
AR: My kind of guy! I knew you were the right one for this chat.
Another thing that stood out to me about your experience – international competitions with nations like Greece and China. I can guess your Greek background and the tie in there, but how did you end up with these opportunities first off and what was it like to be a coach for these nations where hockey is kind of unheard of?
SA: It was really fun. My first international tournament experience was obviously with my home country, Canada, at the World University Games. Prior to that, I committed to spending time with the South Koreans. That was by the fact that I worked with (then Grand Rapids Assistant Coach) Jim Paek for two years. When I left Grand Rapids to coach at the University of Lethbridge, he left that same summer for the project to bring the Olympics to Korea and having their hockey team compete at that level.
It was actually at my wedding in 2014 when he asked me for the availability in the Spring. I predicted I would be done by mid-February and he asked if I wanted to be involved with the Koreans, so that’s how I got my start. He made me head coach of the U18 team and I was an assistant along with Richard Park for the men. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see through the whole project. I had to really focus in as head coach at Lethbridge and more so as my wife and I started having children it became harder to take time off.
Coach Anastas goes in further on the subdivisions of the IIHF and its organization. As he stated, most people aren’t even aware of the different subgroups. We watch our nations – the US, Canada, Sweden, etc. and for 99% of us it begins and ends with that top group.
There’s seven (7!!!) groups below the World Championship level. You win gold, you get promoted. You finish last, you get demoted. Nations like South (and even North) Korea, Kyrgyzstan, and China exist down in these groups.
What happens at these levels is you typically end up playing the same countries just about every year. You get to know the delegates from all of these countries. I was fortunate enough that the University of Lethbridge and more fortunate that my wife both supported me to take on those experiences.
When you’re on the pro coaching side, it’s harder to take on those ventures. When I got into scouting after Covid, I was really fortunate that the Winnipeg Jets were really happy for me to continue to get some coaching experience under my belt. That’s where Serbia presented itself – Serbia and Greece are really close. Same thing with China.
All incredible experiences. You get to work on your communication skills and it stretches you as a coach because you have to coach different individuals differently. To do it with people who might not speak your language or do it with someone of a different upbringing or culture of hockey, it has really made me a better coach and person I think.
I know it’s a long-winded answer but it’s a really important part of my career that I really value, and I appreciate you bringing it up.
AR: Absolutely! Thanks for sharing. It’s a fascinating story, and you’re right. I am aware of these subdivisions going all the way down but you don’t really hear the stories coming out of it.
Turning to the Wolves, you and Coach Abbott come in with a new staff, new players, a whole new vibe in Chicago. You have a culture and identity that need to be established right off the bat. How did you and the staff go ahead in executing that?
SA: We talked a lot about that very thing in the summer. How we’re gonna get these guys going in the right direction in their careers for the development of the Carolina Hurricanes – and for the tradition of winning and high expectations of the Chicago Wolves.
There’s no secret that there was some challenges over the summer with the reaffiliation. We tried as a coaching staff to block that noise. We’re Carolina Hurricanes employees, but we came in here with the full intention of being a part of the Chicago Wolves family and we wanted our players to feel that as well.
It’s kind of a three-pronged attack: you need to satisfy the individual player, the organization that owns their rights and the organization they’re playing for. We thought the best way to do that was to build an environment of growth, openness, and one that’s a fun place to come to every day. We don’t want it to feel like work. We want it to feel like somewhere they come to get better every day, have fun within a controlled sense of building towards something special.
It was important for us to not put a premium on wins and losses but more so on the process and habits that are necessary to get there. Connecting that to the results and the opportunities for these players that ultimately want to rise to the NHL.
We had a lot of team builders to set the tone in the rookie tournament. Went to an NFL game in Nashville, get guys comfortable with each other. Once we hit the ground running, it was all business, but we didn’t lose touch with the fact that we care about them as people first. What that spilled into is that they started to care about each other in the same way.
Me specifically with the D core, we built a tight-knit unit. We call ourselves the D-Unit, we wear hats that say “the Unit” on them. We established a curriculum, our process every week. It’s become a real special team within the team. Little approaches like that get the guys to buy into the day-to-day process.
If you couldn’t tell by now, Coach Anastas has a lot to say about his coaching process. He bleeds a contagious passion for the game that’s showing out in the Wolves’ lineup game after game.
Part 2 of my chat with Coach Anastas to follow soon: he details more about the Wolves’ bounce back from a rough start, the progress of recent callup Scott Morrow, and his favorite Greek food.
You can check out the other Fireside Chats here:
Forwards: Bradly Nadeau
Coaches: Cam Abbott – Head Coach. Jack Nitsche – Strength and Conditioning Coach
