Yes, he was a huge part of that success. He brought a lot of high end talent here and I believe Debrincat was probably the most talented and impactful FA signing in the franchise's history. Bassin was also responsible for the extreme failure's that led to acquiring McDavid. For a few seasons he was distracted from his ownership/ GM duties because he was involved with an investment group trying to purchase the Sabres before the Pegulas did. As a result, we had 2 of the worst seasons on record and arguably the 2 worst coaches in Robbie Ftorek and Peter Siedorkewicz, and up until the last few seasons, some of the worst drafting and trades I've seen. The financial status of the team was a mess, leading to constant speculation of relocating, going into debt, and taking loans from Daryl Katz.
I think this discussion of Sherry Bassin is a very good one. There are several facets of Bassin's stewardship of this franchise that need to be kept in mind:
1. He brought the franchise to Erie after the ECHL team here folded. I had season tickets to that team (was it the Golden Blades or the Panthers - my memory fails me at the moment and that tells you how old I am). I had no idea what junior hockey was about, the quality of the hockey, or the fact that you would be seeing future NHL stars on the ice. For that we are indebted to Bassin.
2. Bassin is a warm, charming person, whose hockey stories go back decades and are quite entertaining. He gave a franchise that was brand new to Erie some pretty deep hockey roots that it would not otherwise have had.
3. He did win an OHL Championship in 2001-02, without tanking and without any McDavid quality players. Erie has had two OHL championships over its 25 year history, which is actually more than most OHL franchises can claim over those 25 years.
4. He did put together a team around McDavid that was nothing less than spectacular and had an unprecedented run of four 50+ wins. However, I would say that of equal importance, if not greater importance, was his naming of Kris Knoblauch as head coach. I remember Bassin saying that Knoblauch would someday be a head coach in the NHL. That has not happened yet, but I think Bassin may well prove prophetic in this regard.
5. Bassin did not have the financial wherewithal to run this franchise properly. It should be kept in mind that the league changed dramatically over the time that Bassin was the owner. It went from what some would call a "mom & pop" league to being big business. That outstripped Bassin and, frankly, the OHL brass. Bassin did not have the money to play in this new sand box and the OHL hierarchy did not grasp the critical need to monitor its franchises to make certain that they remained financially sound, to wit, prohibiting franchises from taking on excessive debt.
6. We know from the bankruptcy that Bassin's financial desperation led him to borrow money which in reality he had no realistic means of paying back. And the terms of the deal were such that it would permit the lender to move the team to Hamilton upon Bassin's inevitable default.
This, in my opinion, is the biggest blot on Bassin's tenure in Erie. The community had supported the Otters at a level that was as good as or better than most OHL cities. He had a good partner in the Convention Center Authority, which provided the franchise one of the larger and better rinks in the OHL, and which was planning and ultimately executed upon a spectacular improvement program for the Arena. But Erie almost lost its team because of Bassin's financial desperation and financial mismanagement. And the rumors swirling about while all this was happening were most damaging and most disheartening.
7. One last thing. A bankruptcy filing is normally considered proof positive evidence of failure. It is also something embarrassing for an individual with a great deal of personal pride. But Bassin took that step as a means of staving off the foreclosing lender and creating the opportunity to sell the team to a buyer that would keep the team in Erie. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in a bankruptcy case. But they did not in this instance. Every creditor was paid in full. The team kept playing, not missing a single game. The employees did not miss a single paycheck. And, most importantly, the opportunity was created for a Jim Waters to step forward, to keep the team In Erie and to put it on a sound financial basis.
In sum, there are many facets to Bassin's ownership and operation of the Otters. I think it is a mistake to focus on only one facet in evaluating Bassin, both as an individual and as an owner of an OHL franchise. It is only one person's opinion, and I can understand why some may disagree, but I think Sherry Bassin, on a whole, has done more for Erie hockey than any other individual in the history of the sport in Erie. In saying this I am consciously willing to put down the financial disaster to someone who found himself in a situation with which he was neither professionally nor financially equipped to cope. He made some bad decisions in what for him was a desperate situation. But in the end he made the right move in filing bankruptcy and navigating those waters. We are all human and I wonder what I would have done had I found myself in similar personal circumstances.
In this regard, I think the good far outweighs the bad, and I prefer to think of him, and the history of this franchise, in that light.
