MacInnis Cherishes Fresh Start With Cleveland

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Edited by: @AlyssaHertel

What a roller coaster ride of a career to date for Cleveland Monsters center Ryan MacInnis.

Entering the 2014 NHL Draft, MacInnis had some buzz around him. Depending upon which rankings you read, he was considered a late first, early second-round candidate. Considering his father is the hall of famer Al MacInnis, you can see why someone taking a chance on him was considered a good thing. With the 43rd pick of that draft, the Arizona Coyotes took MacInnis in the hopes he could gel with the young core they already had.

MacInnis returned to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers for two seasons and continued to improve, making it look like the Coyotes made a solid pick. He was named captain of the Rangers for the 2015-16 season. He scored 81 points in 59 games, helping the Rangers make a playoff run.

But for whatever reason, things just never worked out in the Coyotes’ organization for MacInnis.

He spent two seasons in Tucson but was never able to reach the lofty expectations placed on him. In 127 games with the Roadrunners, MacInnis amassed just 14 goals and 31 points. From a distance, you could tell he was frustrated. It reached a point where he needed a change of scenery.

This past July, he got his wish. He couldn’t be any happier about it.

The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired MacInnis in exchange for defenseman Jacob Graves and a conditional sixth-round pick; the condition is based on if MacInnis makes it to the NHL and plays a certain number of games.

Inside AHL Hockey caught up with MacInnis Saturday night after his Monsters lost 4-1 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Among the topics we discussed were the trade, his summer preparations and his early impressions of the Blue Jackets’ organization and coach John Madden. We asked him about his reaction when he first heard about the trade.

“I was pretty excited. Especially Columbus,” MacInnis said. “They’re such a respected organization. They’re such a professional organization. I’m excited for the fresh start.”

Did he feel like he needed a fresh start?

“Yeah for sure. Yeah.”

He didn’t go any further than that. You could tell from being there that it was a sore subject the way things ended with the Coyotes. He didn’t dive into any details as to why but he was clearly happy with the trade.

MacInnis knew this would be a big opportunity for him with a fresh start in hand. Did he need to do anything different in preparation for this season?

“Really didn’t change much. I just tried to get stronger. I didn’t really try to put more weight on. I wanted to be better conditioned just because now it’s skating and you’re going up and down as a center. You need the speed.”

Is he faster in his mind?

“Yeah for sure. Definitely more explosive than I was last season.”

His coach John Madden likes what he sees out of Ryan, but admits they are working on an important aspect of his game.

“He’s a big boy, he’s strong,” Madden said of MacInnis. “He knows the game. He gets his feet moving. He’s fast and he’s hard to play against. I was fine with Ryan. It’s just the inconsistency from shift to shift or period to period. If we can find that consistency we’ve been working with him on, he’ll be a good player.”

MacInnis already thinks Madden has had an impact on him.

“It’s pretty cool to have a coach that is a former NHL center. He’s definitely maybe helped me with my faceoffs (laughs).”

And he’s very happy with the early ice time and opportunities being presented to him.

“It’s been great with the ice time. Just trying to keep it going. We obviously didn’t capitalize on the power plays we were given early in the game. But it’s been good so far.”

Clearly the Blue Jackets saw something in MacInnis that made them pull the trigger on a trade. They think he’ll not only make the NHL but make an impact when he gets there. He’s being given every opportunity to make that happen. If he can find consistency, this could end up being an underrated trade for the Blue Jackets’ organization. Even if it doesn’t work out, all it cost them was a depth defenseman and a sixth rounder.

The Blue Jackets gave MacInnis the fresh start he needed. Now we’ll see if MacInnis can pay off the Blue Jackets’ hunch.