Once again I wanted to thank everyone in the hockey blogging world for their contributions….as always here at the NHL Arena Program we will continue to search out for the best stuff on a weekly basis and you will see it here.
Thanks to PB from One Fan’s Perspective for this week’s BOTW.
Coyotes Begin Interviews
According to the Arizona Republic and the East Valley Tribune, the Phoenix Coyotes will begin the process of interviewing candidates for the vacant General Manager position.
Wayne Gretzky has said that it would most likely be a good thing if the new GM didn’t have a close relationship with him and that he would need to have experience putting together a franchise built around young prospects for long term viability.
Only three names were released: Neil Smith (who was a GM for the New York Rangers, and for a brief period with the New York Islanders), Doug MacLean (who was with the Columbus Blue Jackets until April of this year), and Craig Patrick (who was with the Pittsburgh Penguins). Both Patrick and MacLean were head coaches as well.
All three candidates have their strengths and weaknesses.
With MacLean, the Columbus Blue Jackets never were able to put together a winning franchise and it always seemed that parts of the puzzle were missing. Over at Army of the Ohio, is a listing of blog reactions chronicle the news of MacLean’s fate. (Scroll down to the April 19 entry for the list.)
Some of have said that MacLean had to sell hockey to the central Ohio community and that he was very effective with it. Others have applauded his early draft decisions, but what they became frustrated with was his inability to hire people or players to propel the team into the playoffs. The Blue Jackets suffered through six losing seasons without even a sniff at the post-season. MacLean might be a good man, but I would think his arrival here would be like nailing my foot to the floor and have me walking around in circles (how’s that for an image?).
Craig Patrick put together a solid team with the Pittsburgh Penguins. I’m almost sure you would recognize the team of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. Other notable players on those teams were Ron Francis and Ulf Sammuelsson. Those teams won the Stanley Cup twice in a row in 1991 and 1992, which is a herculean feat in any era. However, towards the end of his tenure with the Penguins, he was plauged with financial woes and had a series of poor trades (notably sending Naslund to Vancover for role player Alek Stojanov). Of course, the Jagr trade to the Washington Capitals for prospects didn’t really pan out for him too well either.
Neil Smith put together a team that won the Stanley Cup in 1994 with the New York Rangers. However, he put together that playoff team by trading away prospects for veteran players and after the Cup year, the team struggled to stay in contention. He seemed not know how to blend the veteran player with the prospect player and went after free agents to plug holes. He reunited Wayne Gretzky with Mark Messier in 1996.
Does any of this sound familiar? The people mentioned in the newspaper articles have the same issues that befell Mike Barnett. The GMs we need are those working with the franchises that have built from within, through the draft, and are the powerhouses today: Buffalo Sabres, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and so on.
There are six others on the list that did not want their names disclosed for a variety of reasons, and quite possibly, they may be the people we are looking for to rebuild the franchise.
