New Ontario Reign Head Coach Marco Sturm excited for a “no-brainer” of an opportunity

For Marco Sturm, the head coaching position with the Ontario Reign presented an interesting and compelling opportunity. He said that as soon as he knew the opportunity would be available, there were no second thoughts on his end.

“This is an opportunity for me that doesn’t happen very often and especially in a place like Ontario, I can stay in LA, I’m next to the Kings, a lot of good things happen with players, organization and everything,” Sturm said in his first press availability as a member of the AHL club. “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else, but this came up and for me it was a no-brainer.”

From an Ontario Reign perspective, adding an internal candidate became the obvious route for the organization to go once it became clear that Sturm was interested in making the switch from an NHL assistant to an AHL head coach.

“When we first looked, we wanted to evaluate what direction we wanted to go for in Ontario, talking with our management group and evaluated the season and as we had those discussions, we were pretty pleased with the expanded roles that our existing staff had taken on last year and watched their growth,” Ontario General Manager Rich Seeley said. “Then, having familiarity with Marco, I’ve got to be honest that the external component for this job search, we didn’t feel the need to go outside the organization. When we have that, I think it’s nice.”

The familiarity factor was certainly a big one for Seeley and the rest of the management team involved in the hire.

Having someone that both the Kings and the Reign know, and know well, was important, as was his background, someone who has found success both at the NHL and IIHF levels. Someone who has worked with both veteran and younger players alike, focusing on development and winning, while also bringing a good pedigree as a recent NHL player all factored into the process for Ontario.

“Our organization has a lot of familiarity with Marco, our experience working with him over the past few years,” Seeley added. “I think his background within our organization and the success he’s had within our organization and at the international stage puts him in a unique position to develop our prospects moving forward. He has a wealth of playing experience background too, almost 1,000 NHL games, which I think will help Marco relating to a lot of our young prospects.”

What Sturm represents for both the Kings and the Reign is first and foremost familiarity.

For an AHL club, there’s a desire to operate in such a way that mirrors what the NHL team is doing, at least to an extent. When players are called up to play for the Kings, the organization wants to make sure that transition is as seamless as possible, with the structure, systems and terminology being used the same at both levels to ease an already difficult transition.

In Sturm, the Reign add a bench boss who has been on the other side for the better part of four seasons. He knows how Todd McLellan operates and how he wants things done, how he wants players to be prepared when they make the transition across the hall from Reign to Kings. Sturm believes he can help in that process with all he’s learned from McLellan in their three years together.

“What our coaching staff with the Kings and especially Todd taught me is what was going on behind the scenes,” Sturm said. “It’s the daily job we have to do, the ups and downs, and the bench management as well. I’ve never seen a guy like Todd in my career who was that sharp and organized. That’s something I took from him the last few years and try to do things basically the same way.”

Sturm noted throughout the press conference that he likes working with and helping to develop younger players, likening the opportunity with Ontario in some ways to the work that he was doing with the German Men’s National Team, prior to joining the Kings back in 2018.

With Team Germany, it was a process of building the foundation of the program, starting at the younger levels and working its way up to the senior national team. In some ways, there are similarities in balancing priorities.

In the AHL, a head coach faces the unique challenge of being tasked with developing prospects into NHL players, but also to win games at the same time. Typically, one is wanted along with the other, not only helping to improve the younger players in the organization. Organizations want their top prospects not only playing a prominent role, but also playing in important, playoff games. Achieving both is that special requirement of all AHL Head Coaches.

“That will be something new for me, but something I had a little experience with the German National Team, because I built up the whole hockey program there with a lot of young kids and a new system and I also had to win games,” Sturm explained. “I think it’s pretty much the same here in Ontario. There is a lot of similarity here with those two things and that’s part of the business too. I know what I’m getting into and I love to develop and I also hate to lose. I want to win games and I think we have a good enough team to do that and that’s what we’re going to try to do this year.”

There’s also the transition back to being a head coach, after serving as an assistant with the Kings under the leadership of two head coaches.

Sturm naturally does have head coaching experience back in Germany, but he’s never held that position for a team that plays a full-season schedule, or one that has done so in North America. There are challenges that come along with the transition, including not answering to another coach, but rather having other coaches answer to you.

There are also increased responsibilities when it comes to practice planning, bench management and relationships with players, all of which are different as a head coach compared to an assistant and all are different from the NHL to the AHL. It’s a challenge that Sturm is ready to take head on, one that he’s excited to address.

“Being your own boss is going to be a huge difference,” Sturm admitted. “When Todd had COVID, Trent Yawney and I took over and even in that short time it’s amazing how quickly it goes. You get in a rhythm on the bench and in practice and the drills and the meetings and all that kind of stuff. I think that’s something that will be a big change for me but I know how things happen and I think after one or two meetings and a few practices I think I should be ready to go.”

As a coach, Sturm already has familiarity with many of the organization’s younger players who could at least begin the season at the AHL level with the Reign.

This season, 15 players featured for both the Kings and the Reign and at least a portion of those players could begin the season at the AHL level come the fall, considering the number of roster spots available and the number of players looking to claim them.

“Marco’s been able to see some of our young players, whether it be Fagemo or Turcotte, go up and play 4-5 games,” Seeley said. “Dealing with them [already], that’s going to give him a unique perspective and I think it will only benefit us full time in the American Hockey League.”

From his perspective, Sturm has the same approach to the situation.

He’s not a new face for many who he will coach in Ontario and he’s not seeing players play for the first time. There’s an importance to that, with that familiarity extending throughout the roster.

“I’ve met a lot of those young kids already, I’ve seen them play, I’ve seen them act on and off the ice and there’s a whole lot of excitement,” Sturm added. “I think it’s a whole group and that’s how I’m going to approach everything. It’s going to be not a one-man show, it’s going to be a whole team effort and I’m just going to try to help those kids come to the next level and also win some hockey games.”

Looking ahead to the fall, Sturm understands he’s inheriting a Reign team coming off of a very successful season, finishing with the third-best record in the AHL.

Both he and the organization know there’s another level to unlock when it comes to both development and on-ice success, something that Sturm is hopeful to achieve as he takes the helm in the fall.

“I’m [never] satisfied, I think there’s always more in the tank and that’s what I’m going to try to do here,” Sturm added. “I think there’s a lot of room left with the players and with our whole group with the organization to move up and we’re not done yet. We did a great job the last few years doing the rebuild and building something and now we just want to continue that and get better and grow as a team every year.”