News & Notes XLIV: Revenge of the Seth

[Svechhammer]

Athletic survey on League's top front offices (top 3: Dallas, Tampa, Florida).
Canes came in 8th (Total points: 21 (1 first-place vote, appeared on 6 ballots).

Leafs were 23rd and the following 9 finished "last": Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken.


"They operate on the most frugal budget and their staff does a helluva job,” one senior adviser said. “I’ll be interested to see how Eric Tulsky does because Donnie Waddell’s the one person that I know that could handle Tom (Dundon). A guy like Mark Craig runs the pro side, and the pro side’s basically a part-time gig for most of those guys. It also tells you just how good a coach Rod Brind’Amour is. His players play at their optimal level.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5860549/2024/10/22/nhl-front-office-rankings/?campaign=11451300&source=targeted_email&userId=9706046

The most frugal budget that annually spends to the cap and gives the head coach whatever salary he wants.

ok, sure

 

[bleedgreen]

The most frugal budget that annually spends to the cap and gives the head coach whatever salary he wants.

ok, sure

We always tell ourselves we spend the money on the ice, and now on Rod. This article would seem to line itself up with that thought. I’ve been assuming the front office and support guys are amongst the lowest paid in the league the whole time. Even if you don’t believe or care about that it’s interesting that our “pro guys” are “mostly part time”. Tulsky himself said in summer interviews that they do a lot of work with a bare bones staff.

We also didn’t seem to want to give the coach whatever he wants.

It’s ok to say we’re cheap. We are. At least we aren’t on the ice in terms of cap, but we obviously won’t overspend on almost anyone. We let guys go all the time because of cost. Yes we replace them….with cheaper options that maybe erode our overall level. It feels kind of cheap, but we’ve made it work.

We’re winning so it doesn’t matter but I think some of the comments that go in this direction are fair.

 

[chaz4hockey]

LY, it was reported that we had a waiting list.....no longer I gather.

btw: team spend comment. My takeaway was that it was directed to the non-ice product.

 

[Svechhammer]

LY, it was reported that we had a waiting list.....no longer I gather.

btw: team spend comment. My takeaway was that it was directed to the non-ice product.

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This is what happens when you continually jack up the price of tickets, parking, and everything for sale in concession stands while fumbling the bag on someone like Guentzel.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Yeah, we knew the organization was frugal, but that "part time" comment is damning. There's frugal and then there's exploitive.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Craig appears to be 71 and has been here for quite some time. I'd assume if it's something that wasn't working out for him, he would have left some time ago. Perhaps the arrangement is beneficial to both sides. Nah, it has to be a damning thing. (this isn't to say that I don't think we are cheap at times, we obviously are, just seems worth thinking beyond the random unsourced quote)

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I'll worry about how "cheap" we are when we miss the playoffs. Until then, I don't give a shit what the Internet Click Machine says, about pretty much anything.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Craig appears to be 71 and has been here for quite some time. I'd assume if it's something that wasn't working out for him, he would have left some time ago. Perhaps the arrangement is beneficial to both sides. Nah, it has to be a damning thing. (this isn't to say that I don't think we are cheap at times, we obviously are, just seems worth thinking beyond the random unsourced quote)

I might be reading it wrong, but the quote seems to imply that Craig is the leader of the pro group, and he has a bunch of part time workers under him. So yeah, it might be working for HIM, but I bet if you ask those part time guys, you might be getting a different answer.

 

[hblueridgegal]

I figured for the marketing departures one reason may be "it's time to get paid."

 

[A Star is Burns]

I might be reading it wrong, but the quote seems to imply that Craig is the leader of the pro group, and he has a bunch of part time workers under him. So yeah, it might be working for HIM, but I bet if you ask those part time guys, you might be getting a different answer.

Yes, but looking up the other pro scouts, several of them have been here several years. I think it'd be pretty easy to leave if they aren't happy and have experience in a good organization.