Ryan Martin enters his ninth season as assistant general manager and his 14th overall as a member of Detroit's front office team. Martin is primarily responsible for collective bargaining agreement administration and compliance, salary cap management, player contract research and analysis, and salary arbitration preparation. He is also involved extensively in all facets of player contract negotiations, strategic planning and player evaluations at both the professional and amateur levels. In addition, Martin is currently in his sixth season serving as general manager of the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins, who captured two Calder Cup championships over a five-year span under his watch (2013 and 2017). He oversees all aspects of hockey operations for the Griffins including player personnel decisions, player development, contract negotiations and player movement. Prior to joining the Red Wings in 2005, Martin practiced law from 1998-1999 in Denver, Colorado with the firm of Messner & Reeves, LLC, specializing in corporate, commercial transactional, and taxation law. From 1999-2003 he worked in Denver as an attorney and NHLPA certified player agent with Kurt Overhardt, PC and KO Sports, Inc., representing professional hockey players in all facets of their careers. From 2003-2005, Martin served as the in-house corporate counsel for a group of closely held businesses in Massachusetts and also worked as a part-time scout for the Omaha Lancers (USHL).
A native of Connecticut, Martin graduated from Trinity College in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Legal Studies. He went on to earn a law degree from the University of Denver, College of Law in 1997 and an LL.M. in taxation from the University of Denver, College of Law in 1998.
Ryan and his wife, Candace, reside in suburban Detroit with their daughter, Ava, and son, Cam.
Seems like a pretty solid hire all around. Glad that we’ve finally added an aGM and cap guy to the front office
LOLWould have been nice to hire the cap management expert prior to completing all of the signings.
The opportunity to become assistant general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning was enticing, but Ryan Martin has decided to remain the Detroit Red Wings' director of hockey administration -- their "capologist.''
Shortly after Steve Yzerman was hired as the Lightning's general manager on May 25, he asked Martin to join him in Tampa Bay. After struggling with the decision for two weeks, Martin decided on Monday to stay in Detroit.
"It was a great professional opportunity that Steve was offering me,'' Martin said on Tuesday. "But I felt for personal and professional reasons it was better to stay in Detroit. It was a hard decision, but I feel comfortable with it.''
Martin joined the Red Wings in 2005, when the NHL implemented the salary cap. He works closely with management in matters of collective bargaining agreement compliance, salary cap management, player contract research and analysis and salary arbitration preparation. He also is involved in contract negotiations.
His role for USA Hockey overlapped naturally with his work for the Red Wings — especially because, back then, he watched more amateur players for the Red Wings. As he saw players in different leagues who were eligible for the tournament, he would file reports back to Johannson. When Johannson died in 2018, Martin stayed on under new assistant executive director of hockey operations John Vanbiesbrouck.
Because so much of Team USA’s player pool is made up of players who have come through the NTDP, Martin now sees many of the players who will eventually be eligible for world junior selection starting from the NTDP tryout camp before their U17 seasons. He then can follow them through the program or the USHL, and into college. But beyond that pool of players, the contacts he’s developed throughout his NHL front-office career also allow him (and the other decision-makers within USA Hockey) to hear about players who might be off the radar and bring perspective on them.
“Ryan brings a level of professionalism from being the assistant GM in Detroit and the GM in Grand Rapids to the overall picture of our player pool,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “Confirming a lot of the details that goes with player assessment and really positional assessment — how a player’s used, in what capacity — and how he’s viewed. So it’s important from his relationship with the Wings, to his background in the game, and all that. It’s a level of expertise that we certainly need.”
The process of picking a team is ultimately undertaken by a group of decision-makers, of whom Martin was one. But if there was a more under-the-radar player Martin really wanted on this year’s team, it was Brett Berard — the undersized, underaged freshman from Providence College (and a Rangers 2020 fifth-round pick).
Berard had come through the NTDP, so certainly USA Hockey was familiar with him, and the fact Friars coach Nate Leaman helmed the Americans’ bench makes it easy to think of Berard as an inevitable pick for the roster in hindsight.
So, when Berard stood out at camp this year, Team USA took him to Edmonton and put him in the lineup — age and size be damned.
“A lot of people say that this is a 19-year-old tournament,” Martin added. “I don’t believe that. I believe that if you’re good, the best players are going to have success there, and the evaluation group was really impressed that Brett as an 18-year-old was not intimidated by the older kids and not taking a back seat at all. And he stepped up right away.
“I think we had a really competitive camp and a lot of qualified players, I just believe that you win with competitive players, and I really wanted him on the team, and I know other people on the staff did too. And in the end, I’m really glad he ended up making it.”
This might be worse than your “Laffy” chant ideaAnd we can nickname the Chris Drury and Ryan Martin tandem "Coldplay"
And we can nickname the Chris Drury and Ryan Martin tandem "Coldplay"
I wonder if the fact that he didn't move earlier isn't simply due to a time of life thing, like he felt his kids were too young back then or something.Chris Drury made an excellent hire. It is surprising Ryan Martin left the Red Wings. Steve Yzerman wanted Martin to join him in TB in 2010 but he stayed in Detroit. Yzerman worked for the Red Wings before taking the TB job. Yzerman returned to Detroit in 2019.
Red Wings' 'capologist' Ryan Martin turns down Tampa Bay to stay in Detroit
Ryan's role with USA Hockey
How a Red Wings executive helped Team USA win world juniors gold
Martin is a cap guy and he can help evaluate players.
Source?I think the other thing of note here is that Drury poached 2 people who were currently employed and weren't guys who their previous organizations didn't want to keep.
Source?
I don't think Martin got a promotion, so I don't think he could have left without the Wings allowing it? But I guess that allowing to happen is different from wanting it.My ass.
But seriously, they were still employed and the offseason is the time to make these changes. If they hadn't been let go already, it stands to believe that their superiors wanted to keep them.