After announcing the capture of Swedish-Thai defenceman Likit Andersson, Vipers coach Rob Wilson is relieved to finally find a player to help his team move from zone to zone.
Having a core of solid defencemen is all well and good, but successful teams need extra diversity to link with the forwards and get the puck moving quickly up the ice.
Henderson's absence has thwarted the Vipers' transition game and although Wilson has former NHLer Chris McAllister alongside him, he identified the need for having a puck-moving D-man to create offence.
“Next to losing Burt, not having that has been the biggest problem that we’ve faced this season,” Wilson said in an interview with skysports.com.
“We have guys like Mark Gouett, Jez Lundin and Chris McAllister and they’re all good defenceman. But their strengths are maybe not on the puck - their strengths are in the other parts of the game defensively.”
The Vipers picked up a three-point weekend after beating Edinburgh 6-3 and losing 2-1 on penalties to Nottingham to halt a seven-game losing streak in league competition.
Wilson, who has also brought in forward pair Jeff Hutchins and Ed Courtenay to improve his team, said that it was a frustrating wait for the right player to become available.
“It’s been an uphill battle,” Wilson said.
“I’ve been wanting to bring somebody in for a long time after losing Henderson for most of the year. And after looking at some of our options, Likit became available. He fits the bill, we needed a puck moving defenceman because Burt was the guy who was going to do that for us.”
Wilson, 40, has continued to play in defence for the Vipers despite his desire to act as a full time bench coach. However, when Henderson returns to full fitness Wilson is aiming to leave the ice.
“Without Burt there’s been a big hole there and bringing Likit in he can provide that for us,” he said.
“Once we get Burt back we’ll have two puck-moving defencemen and hopefully I can get back on the bench.“
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