Sheffield Steelers - Aaron Fox on re-signing goalie Matt Greenfield - video Dailymotion

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Sheffield Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox on the re-signing of netminder Matt Greenfield for 2024-25 and the departure of defenceman Sam Jones ...

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00:00On Matt Greenfield, how important was it for you to get this one over the line?

00:11Yeah, I mean, again, you look at your line-up every night and when he's in it, you know,

00:17you're going to give yourself a chance to win, so, you know, I know we let him explore

00:22some options and once he was ready to do a deal, it was probably the easiest decision

00:27we had to get that deal done. He was the MVP of the league for a reason last year, just

00:34been dominant since the day he stepped foot in Sheffield and, you know, keys to winning

00:40trophies and winning a lot of hockey games start with your goaltender and Greener's done

00:46a great job for us.

00:48How hard is it to keep hold of guys like that? Because he will have been, given the year

00:51you had last year, like a number of your players presumably, in demand somewhat. Like you say,

00:55there were other options for him.

00:57Yeah, you know what, those are questions that you'd have to ask him himself on what goes

01:03into making those types of decisions. I can tell you that from an organisation and what

01:09we provide to the players, lifestyle-wise is very, very good. You know, the league's

01:17gotten very, very good here as well, especially the last couple of years here now. Champions

01:23League, you know, I'm sure had a part to play in this a little bit as well. And then,

01:28you know, when you win like the way we did, the opportunity to run it back and hopefully,

01:32you know, add some more silverware next year also is appealing to guys. So I know him and

01:40Sid are very happy in Sheffield. They know exactly what to expect from us as an organisation.

01:48He knows that we're going to put a competitive team on the ice. And then, you know, fortunate

01:53that, you know, he decided to stay.

01:58For you, what makes him such a standout performer? Because he topped every sort of stack going

02:02last year, didn't he? It was quite remarkable what he managed to achieve.

02:06Well, his demeanour is, you know, very, very good. For a goaltender, he's a team first

02:14player. You know, once a goal, goals, he does give up. You never see him calling out

02:20his teammates. You know what I mean? Puck comes back out of the net, he refocuses. He

02:26just stops a lot of pucks, Phil. And, you know, as a goaltender, that's what you need.

02:32I feel like he makes the game look pretty easy, if I'm honest. You know, he doesn't

02:38make a ton of huge acrobatic plays. He's square on pucks. He reads the game really, really

02:42well. He plays the puck at a high level as well. So, he's a big key in some of our retrieval

02:50systems as well. And, again, just one of those guys that is an absolute true pro. Zero, you

02:59know, maybe sometimes on your team, there's guys you maybe have to worry about, like,

03:03taking care of their body or maybe what they do during the week or at night. Like, Greener

03:08is just an absolute pro. There's this one guy that there's nothing to worry about there.

03:14You just know you're going to get the best out of him every night.

03:18You mentioned the Champions Hockey League. We spoke earlier in the summer about you didn't

03:21really know how much of an impact that would make in players' decisions. I've noticed a

03:25few of the players have mentioned the Champions Hockey League in their reasons, among their

03:30reasons for coming back. Has it proved something that has attracted players, or at least at

03:35this stage, attracted players back?

03:37Yeah, I think the guys that may be coming back, you know, it appealed to them. Some

03:44of the new guys that we've signed are guys that I'm currently talking to. It plays a

03:49small part, I would say, you know, but that isn't the definite reason that they're coming

03:54is for the Champions League. And I don't ultimately believe that a few of the guys that stayed

04:01ultimately stayed only because of the Champions League as well. So, I think it plays a small

04:06part, but I just feel like how well taken care of the guys are and what a fantastic

04:11job the organisation does with housing and all those types of things makes a huge play

04:17in all this as well.

04:20Mentioned one guy, just before we move on, one guy that went out, came out last Friday

04:24about Sam Jones. Sad to see him go, but he's certainly a player that has developed during

04:29your time at the club, hasn't he? And he's obviously gone to explore other options.

04:34Yeah, you know, Sam and I had some conversations towards the tail end of the year throughout

04:39the summer. You know, I think at some points along the summer here, I thought there was

04:44a chance he'd be back, but he really had an idea of wanting to pursue some other opportunities

04:52in Europe and just maybe a different role for himself as a player. You know, he played

04:59a 5-6 role for us here and didn't get any power play time and going to a new country

05:05and being able to play as an import and maybe, you know, expected to bring some offence to

05:11the table there. And I think he's hoping to just get a little more out of the two-way

05:19game and that type of experience. So, you know, kudos for him for taking that challenge

05:26and that jump. You know, I think Sam also knows as a Brit that if things go sideways

05:33or it's not something he really enjoyed as much as he hoped, that there will be places

05:37back here in this country for him pretty quickly. And, you know, we didn't close any doors and

05:42I have a great relationship with Sam. So, you know, we'll see where that goes.

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Sheffield Steelers - Aaron Fox on re-signing goalie Matt Greenfield

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