Coaching the Peoria Rivermen took an odd turn for Jean-Guy Trudel about a month ago.
The reigning Southern Professional Hockey League coach of the year reluctantly accepted a package deal involving former ECHL defenceman Carl Nielsen and goalie Shannon Szabados, who won Olympic gold with the Canadian women's team in 2010 and 2014.
The defending regular-season point champions needed help on the blue-line and Trudel wanted the six-foot-four, 225-pound Nielsen, a former captain with Orlando of the ECHL who had two stints in the American Hockey League with Syracuse.
But to get Nielsen, Trudel had to take Szabados, whom he said "was fourth on the depth chart after camp."
The two had been inseparable since meeting at a hockey camp in Denver and wished to be teammates in Peoria so Russ King, Szabados' agent, initiated the "unique signing."
Trudel had tabbed the Edmonton native for a backup role behind rookie Storm Phaneuf after she posted a 20-20-6 record the past two seasons with the SPHL's Columbus Cottonmouths, including a .910 save percentage last season.
The first female to appear in the SPHL when she debuted with Columbus in the spring of 2014, the 30-year-old Szabados relieved Phaneuf early in the second period of the Rivermen's season-opening 6-1 loss on Oct. 21 and allowed two goals on 15 shots to the visiting Huntsville (Ala.) Havoc.
The next night, Trudel pulled Szabados from her first start after a pair of Huntsville goals in the first four minutes five seconds of the second period in an eventual 5-1 defeat.
By Monday of this week, Trudel had seen enough — on and off the ice — and released Szabados, Nielsen and Phaneuf, but not before a failed attempt to talk Nielsen, 28, into staying without Szabados.
"I tried to do something to get this great defenceman that plays 25 minutes a game, and it didn't work out," Trudel told CBC Sports. "It's the first time I've dealt with a package deal and I won't deal with it again. I think it's wrong for the game of hockey. Maybe I'm old-school but I like to coach players who deserve to be here."
An attempt by CBC Sports to reach Szabados was unsuccessful.
'It feels like a lot of weight has been lifted off everybody's shoulders. It's back to being a team.' - Peoria coach Jean-Guy Trudel on the departures of goalie Shannon Szabados and good friend Carl Nielsen
Trudel said the Szabados-Nielsen deal is the "most different situation" he's been involved with in all his years coaching and 13 seasons playing mostly at the minor pro level.
"I'm paid to make sure my ownership is happy, that we win a lot of games, so I gotta do what I gotta do to make sure my team is in a good state of mind to win hockey games," he said.
"The last two days of practice have been phenomenal. It feels like a lot of weight has been lifted off everybody's shoulders. It's back to being a team."
Trudel noticed a drastic change in team morale soon after Szabados and Nielsen came aboard, saying cliques began to form that turned a close-knit group into one that had become quiet and unproductive on the ice.
"They were always together and it became kind of weird," said Trudel of Szabados and Nielsen, a native of Lorain, Ohio. "Seeing the [other] players in the locker room, I just saw the situation being heavy on everyone. It was cancerous toward the team. I coach 18 players here so I need to make 18 players happy, not just two."
Szabados to play at Four Nations Cup
In less than a month, Szabados went from being the first female to appear in a game in the Rivermen's 35-year history to the first to be cut, departing Illinois with a 6.10 goals-against average and .792 save percentage.
A better calibre of play in the SPHL and Szabados' small stature seemed to catch up to the five-foot-nine netminder, whose butterfly style is more exposed in the men's game.
"Down low, she's very strong, very fast, but hard shots up high were kind of tough for her," said Trudel. "You could see in practice she was struggling and the top of the net was open a lot. At this level, guys know how to pick corners."
King, a NHLPA certified agent and president of Kingdom Player Management in Stouffville, Ont., acknowledged in an email to CBC Sports that the SPHL has become a stronger league over the past two seasons "because NHL teams have utilized developing their players at the ECHL level, forcing good non-contracted players to the SPHL."
King added his client is expected to play for Canada's women's team at the Four Nations Cup from Nov. 1-5 in Vierumäki, Finland. Canada's two-year title reign ended last year with a 3-2 loss to the United States in Sweden.
Trudel said he harbours no ill feelings toward Szabados and Nielsen, noting he had a good coach-player relationship with the goalie.
"Shannon's a great person, she loves the game of hockey and she's a good leader on the ice," he said.
"Maybe … if she had come [to Peoria] by herself, gave it her all and focused on the team, maybe [the outcome] would have been different."
Shannon Szabados' package deal with men's team 'wrong for hockey'
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