If you missed it yesterday, the most recent stop in the ‘Back to School’ series was at Boston College to check in on Hurricanes prospect David Cotton.

You can also find a clickable menu of all of the previous entries HERE.


 

Today’s ‘Back to School’ article visits familiar territory, making the fourth of five visits to the Western Hockey League where we check in on defenseman Jake Bean.

 

Jake Bean

Bean was one of two Hurricanes first-round picks in the 2016 NHL Draft at #13 overall. Bean projects to be a ‘new NHL’ defenseman with high-end skating ability and a skill set to generate offense from the back end off the rush, on the power play and from within the offensive zone. If he does not surprise and make the 2017-18 NHL roster, Bean will return to the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL for the 2017-18 season.

 

Interview with Calgary Hitmen Vice President and Alternate Governor Mike Moore

About the interviewee

Mike Moore is entering his 21st season in the Western Hockey League and 11th with the Hitmen. His decade of service with the franchise began with a one-year term as assistant general manager in 1997-98. He then served as general manager of the Kamloops Blazers (1998-2004) and Medicine Hat Tigers (2004-05) before spending three seasons as director of athletics with Edge School (2005-08).

His return to the Hitmen for the 2008-09 season saw Moore as director of business operations before adding the title of assistant general manager in 2012.  Moore moved to the role of general manager and vice president of business operations in 2013 and was appointed vice president and alternate governor in 2017.

During his Hitmen tenure, Moore has received a pair of WHL recognitions: the Marketing/Public Relations Award in 2010-11 and an Eastern Conference nomination for the Lloyd Saunders Memorial trophy as WHL Executive of the Year in 2013-14.

 

Interview on Jake Bean

Canes and Coffee: How would you describe/summarize Jake Bean’s 2016-17 season. What were the highlights of the season for him?

Mike Moore: Jake was a key performer for the Hitmen last season.  With the loss of three key veterans from the previous season and an incoming young defensive core, Jake was a leader and logged significant minutes for our team.  The World Junior tournament was certainly a highlight for him as well.

 

Canes and Coffee: What areas of Jake Bean’s game showed the greatest development/improvement during the 2016-17 season relative to the previous season?

Mike Moore: Jake was stronger and quicker in the 2016-17 season.  He was required to and able to defend against the league’s top performers.

 

Canes and Coffee: Coming out of the 2016-17 season, what areas of focus/room for improvement do you see for Jake Bean during the offseason and entering the 2017-18 season?

Mike Moore: Jake will need to continue to get stronger and quicker as he remains a focus for opposition teams.  His offensive game will be relied upon again as well as his defensive play.

 

Canes and Coffee: If he does not make the Hurricanes NHL roster and instead returns to Calgary, Jake Bean will have had a strong 2017-18 season in terms of helping the Hitmen win and continuing his development if he _______.

Mike Moore: …Remains a key offensive threat, leads a young group of defencemen and builds on his 2017 World Junior experience with another strong tournament in Buffalo.

 

Canes and Coffee: Is there anything else not addressed by my questions above that might be noteworthy and of interest to Carolina Hurricanes fans who are tracking Jake Bean from afar?

Mike Moore: Jake is a dedicated athlete who works hard on and off of the ice.  His preparation is exceptional and his approach mature.  He is also a valuable member in our community, giving his time back to kids and charitable programs developed through the team and through his own initiatives.

 

Interview with Ryan Pike from The Hockey Writers

About the Interviewee

Ryan Pike (Twitter=@RyanNPike) has been covering the Calgary Flames and profiling Western Hockey League prospects for the National Hockey League draft since 2010. His work can be found at FlamesNation.ca and The Hockey Writers

 

Interview on Jake Bean

Canes and Coffee: How would you describe/summarize Jake Bean’s 2016-17 season. What were the highlights of his season?

Ryan Pike: I think the entire Calgary Hitmen club’s 2016-17 season can be characterized by few, if any, players on the club really exceeding expectations. While in 2015-16 Bean really stepped up defensively in the absence of Travis Sanheim for long stretches, he arguably tried to do too much in 2016-17 on a much younger team. What makes Bean’s game effective is doing a lot of simple things well, and succeeding in those simple things giving him an opportunity to chip in offensively. He didn’t quite do that as consistently in 2016-17. That said, he still had a very strong offensive season and his struggles were mostly missteps in the defensive and neutral zone – pinching at the wrong time or pushing too hard for a pass up a seam.

Bean’s best games were when he was really feeling it offensively. He had a pair of games against Kootenay that were very good – granted, they were playing Kootenay,  but I really loved his January 27 hat-trick against Regina. A couple of his goals were on the power play, but his game had the Pats on their heels the entire time.

 

Canes and Coffee: What areas of Jake Bean’s game showed the greatest development/improvement during the 2016-17 season relative to the previous season?

Ryan Pike: While Bean has always been a good skater and a player who can move the puck well, in 2016-17 he arguably became even more effective and more confident in his ability to distribute the puck in the offensive end. In games where he was “on,” he could make a tape-to-tape pass to nearly anywhere in the offensive and zone and that confidence, especially on the power play, really made the Hitmen a dangerous team.

 

Canes and Coffee: What elements of Jake Bean’s game project to being NHL caliber either now or within a couple years? What areas of his game show the greatest room/need for improvement at this early stage of his development?

Ryan Pike: His vision and passing ability are already NHL level. His skating is really close to it, if not already there. His defensive zone play will always be something he’ll need to make adjustments to, particularly just learning to pick his spots better in terms of taking risks with the puck. I think that’s where the struggles he had in 2016-17 will really help him, as he’ll probably be thinking about bad pinches and bad passes and anticipating trouble before it occurs (rather than scrambling to adjust mid-game).

 

Canes and Coffee: Is there a current NHL comparable for Jake Bean’s style of play and skill set who could be a model for his role and style of play at the NHL level in the future?

Ryan Pike: Maybe it’s the Calgary connection, but he reminds me a lot of T.J. Brodie in terms of his ability to skate and move the puck. I think Bean might already be a better power play quarterback than Brodie, though, but the overall style of play is probably the closest comparison.

 

Canes and Coffee: Is there anything else not addressed by my questions above that might be noteworthy and of interest to Carolina Hurricanes fans who are tracking Jake Bean from afar?

Ryan Pike: I will be curious to see how Bean can adjust to the physical game at the pro level. He relies more on speed and positioning while defending, which works in junior, but I’m curious if he can either play his game in the pros or if he can bulk up and maintain his speed game at that level.

 

For past coverage on Jake Bean including a check in on him during the 2016-17, please visit his Canes and Coffee player page HERE.

 

Canes and Coffee would like to extend a huge thank you to Calgary Hitmen Vice President and Alternate Governor Mike Moore and Ryan Pike from The Hockey Writers and FlamesNation.ca for generously sharing their insight on Hurricanes prospect Jake Bean!

 

Go Canes!

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