GM search thread - all news and discussion here

[squashmaple]

I guess I'll spell it out.

We got connected with every available Columbus player and Finnish coach or player available.

How is being connected with Marner and other London Knights any different?

And you’ll notice in my comment to Viqsi I said Leaf’s fans. Meaning I was talking TO Viqsi, referencing a frequent occurrence she and I both experience both here and at capfriendly of Leafs fans making Marner to CBJ posts. That’s it. I did not expand that to the media, Jarmo, or anything else you made up in your head so you could be rude.

 

[EDM]

Having read that JD hired Jarmo without ever interviewing any other candidates seriously undercuts my faith in his ability to competently handle the hiring of the next GM.

 

[DarkandStormy]

5 Columbus Blue Jackets GM hires who would cause a stir in NHL circles

5 GM hires who'd put the Blue Jackets in the NHL spotlight immediately

www.dispatch.com

Hedger gonna Hedger.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

5 Columbus Blue Jackets GM hires who would cause a stir in NHL circles

5 GM hires who'd put the Blue Jackets in the NHL spotlight immediately

www.dispatch.com

Hedger gonna Hedger.

anyone have a TL;DR?

 

[DarkandStormy]

anyone have a TL;DR?

1) Zito - look, he used to work in Columbus!
2) McFarland - look, he used to work in Columbus!
3) one of the females AGMs in Vancouver
4) Stan Bowman - it'll get people talking! (also listed because Hedger covered Chicago for awhile, I'm sure)
5) Pat Brisson - agent to GM is all the rage!

 

[CBJWerenski8]

1) Zito - look, he used to work in Columbus!
2) McFarland - look, he used to work in Columbus!
3) one of the females AGMs in Vancouver
4) Stan Bowman - it'll get people talking! (also listed because Hedger covered Chicago for awhile, I'm sure)
5) Pat Brisson - agent to GM is all the rage!

While the first two are ridiculous and I don’t think Brisson has any interest in being a GM, I do not think it would be a surprise if we did talk to Bowman.

 

[squashmaple]

If we're looking at former Blackhawks, I could see them taking a long look at Dale Tallon. He's in his 70s, so he may just be enjoying semi-retirement as an assistant in Vancouver, but he was responsible for the hard part of Chicago's last rebuild and he was also brought the Panthers out of irrelevancy (although it was Zito post-2020 who brought them to their current Cup Contender status). Not saying he's an ideal or even likely candidate, but I could see them giving him solid consideration.

 

[DarkandStormy]

While the first two are ridiculous and I don’t think Brisson has any interest in being a GM, I do not think it would be a surprise if we did talk to Bowman.

He failed to report the SA in Chicago, which led to further abuse. Hard pass.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

If we're looking at former Blackhawks, I could see them taking a long look at Dale Tallon.

hard pass for me, seeing as:

• the man is a dinosaur
  • was investigated a few years ago for using racist language in the workplace
  • is famously anti-analytics (more on this below)
• LOVES to draft guys who are big and have limited upside/skill (ex: gudbranson, crouse, bjugstad, howden)
  • the best picks he made were all at the top of the draft (huberdeau 3OA, barkov 2OA, ekblad 1OA) with a couple of other good picks in other spots (matheson late 1st, trocheck 3rd, weegar 7th) but for the most part he drafted poorly in florida
• significantly more trigger-happy with contracts than jarmo was
  • horrible UFA deals for bobrovsky (7x10m), dave bolland (5x5.5m), a very old anton stralman (3x5.5m) and a very bad brett connolly (4x3.5m)
  • huge premature RFA deals for mike matheson (8 years), nick bjugstad (6 years),

at one point, florida moved him out of the GM role and went all-in on analytics. that regime then reshaped the roster by moving out tallon pieces (gudbranson, kulikov, crouse) and brought in guys like jared mccann, jonathan marchessault and others.

then they had injuries, stumbled out of the gates, and ownership fired gallant, so it was a lost season. tallon got reinstated as GM and immediately went to work undoing everything the analytics folks had done, including giving away marchessault and reilly smith to vegas so they could protect alex petrovic.

He failed to report the SA in Chicago, which led to further abuse. Hard pass.

dale tallon sucks for a million reasons but iirc he had been relieved of duties before the 09-10 season. he was still on the payroll and still got his name on the cup, but wasn't around for any of that (again, i may be misremembering)

 

[squashmaple]

hard pass for me, seeing as:

• the man is a dinosaur
  • was investigated a few years ago for using racist language in the workplace
  • is famously anti-analytics (more on this below)
• LOVES to draft guys who are big and have limited upside/skill (ex: gudbranson, crouse, bjugstad, howden)
  • the best picks he made were all at the top of the draft (huberdeau 3OA, barkov 2OA, ekblad 1OA) with a couple of other good picks in other spots (matheson late 1st, trocheck 3rd, weegar 7th) but for the most part he drafted poorly in florida
• significantly more trigger-happy with contracts than jarmo was
  • horrible UFA deals for bobrovsky (7x10m), dave bolland (5x5.5m), a very old anton stralman (3x5.5m) and a very bad brett connolly (4x3.5m)
  • huge premature RFA deals for mike matheson (8 years), nick bjugstad (6 years),

at one point, florida moved him out of the GM role and went all-in on analytics. that regime then reshaped the roster by moving out tallon pieces (gudbranson, kulikov, crouse) and brought in guys like jared mccann, jonathan marchessault and others.

then they had injuries, stumbled out of the gates, and ownership fired gallant, so it was a lost season. tallon got reinstated as GM and immediately went to work undoing everything the analytics folks had done, including giving away marchessault and reilly smith to vegas so they could protect alex petrovic.


dale tallon sucks for a million reasons but iirc he had been relieved of duties before the 09-10 season. he was still on the payroll and still got his name on the cup, but wasn't around for any of that (again, i may be misremembering)

Exactly. Sounds like someone the braintrust that thought Babcock was a good idea will love.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

1) Zito - look, he used to work in Columbus!
2) McFarland - look, he used to work in Columbus!
3) one of the females AGMs in Vancouver
4) Stan Bowman - it'll get people talking! (also listed because Hedger covered Chicago for awhile, I'm sure)
5) Pat Brisson - agent to GM is all the rage!

there's no reason for zito to leave florida – he's at the helm for a cup contender! and pat brisson would probably be taking a paycut.

macfarland would make sense for JD's job, but not GM. sakic is entrenched as the president of hockey ops in colorado. then someone like castonguay (#3) would make sense as the GM.

if ownership decides to go to bat for stan bowman after all the babcock stuff, they should genuinely just fold the team.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

dale tallon sucks for a million reasons but iirc he had been relieved of duties before the 09-10 season. he was still on the payroll and still got his name on the cup, but wasn't around for any of that (again, i may be misremembering)

That comment was in regard to Bowman I believe.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

He failed to report the SA in Chicago, which led to further abuse. Hard pass.

Oh I’m not saying I want him. And we probably wouldn’t hire him, we’ve had enough off ice drama.

 

[LJ7]

What would be the reactions here if Mark Hunter was hired as GM and he brought in Dale as HC?

 

[CBJWerenski8]

What would be the reactions here if Mark Hunter was hired as GM and he brought in Dale as HC?

Dale isn’t my cup of tea but I like Mark Hunter as GM.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

That comment was in regard to Bowman I believe.

i was in the middle of writing my anti dale tallon manifesto when i saw that so i got my wires crossed there. but they're both non-starters for obvious reasons.

 

[Indy18]

What would be the reactions here if Mark Hunter was hired as GM and he brought in Dale as HC?

Not my first pick but personally I have Hunter as my #3 also I would be ok with Dale as a HC or at least part of the coaching staff as he is defense first type of guy which I am biased towards anyways but feel like there are better options available right now.

 

[CBJ goalie]

What would be the reactions here if Mark Hunter was hired as GM and he brought in Dale as HC?

Hard to argue with the winning culture they've developed with the London Knights. They're a team others emulate.
London was not very good when they bought them and took them over......turned them into a dynasty.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

Hard to argue with the winning culture they've developed with the London Knights. They're a team others emulate.
London was not very good when they bought them and took them over......turned them into a dynasty.

My biggest concern is that the Hunters have been in juniors for a long time and they're not exactly spring chickens. Might be a bit far removed from the NHL and a tad bit too old at this point for guiding a long term rebuild.

 

[CBJ goalie]

My biggest concern is that the Hunters have been in juniors for a long time and they're not exactly spring chickens. Might be a bit far removed from the NHL and a tad bit too old at this point for guiding a long term rebuild.

We should not be afraid of 'dinosaurs'
Look at what Holland has done for Edmonton, Maurice for Florida, Bowness for Winnipeg, Laviolette for the NYR.....not saying this is the answer, as new blood has also drawn success too.
But there's no reason to doubt Mark Hunter could do very well in the NHL as GM.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

We should not be afraid of 'dinosaurs'

Just don’t get so preoccupied with whether or not we could, we don’t stop to think if we should.

 

[3074326]

Just don’t get so preoccupied with whether or not we could, we don’t stop to think if we should.

Hopefully this search doesn't end with

 

[TaketheCannoli]

Read "hasn't thought about retirement" as "no way am I going to give up $2 million per year. they'll have to fire my a$$".

Checking property records, JD spent three million dollars on a home in July of 2023 and is building it into his dream home in Naples, FL. I would bet he is out of there when the home is done later this year.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

Checking property records, JD spent three million dollars on a home in July of 2023 and is building it into his dream home in Naples, FL. I would bet he is out of there when the home is done later this year.

Good work, detective.

I would imagine money probably isn't an issue for him at any level at this point-but $2 million per year is still $2 million which is a lot of the green stuff. That being said, IIRC his daughter is an ER Dr., so he probably has little incentive to accumulate more cash.

 

[thebus88]

So, do we want a new coach, and an old GM??

Or, a new GM, and an old coach??

Help me out.