League News: NHL Talk - (News n' Scores n' Stuff) - 2022-23 season, Vol. 4, Off-season Edition

[Marshall]

I would actually consider pulling Bob after goal #2 - get him some rest. See if Lyon can provide a lift.

 

[Marshall]

I would actually consider pulling Bob after goal #2 - get him some rest. See if Lyon can provide a lift.

I am spot-on, as usual...

(and in the wrong thread, too. Nailed it.)

 

[HTFN]

Wow, well in international news, Veleno just stomped on Niederreiter

 

[HTFN]

If you'd have told me last year that Charles Barkley was going to be the NHL's prime ambassador to the other sports broadcasts I'd have laughed and assumed he'd bury the sport for being white people stuff and hard to follow or care about, like how ESPN does it.

I'll be damned if he isn't a lovable advocate right now, and has kind of consistently been. That clip from a few weeks ago where he straight up said he was watching the hockey game because the basketball game they were covering was boring as hell was one of my favorites, nobody has to go out of their way to say that but he has been great since day one when he showed up in the studio to f*** around with the hockey sticks

 

[StrikingDistance]

If you'd have told me last year that Charles Barkley was going to be the NHL's prime ambassador to the other sports broadcasts I'd have laughed and assumed he'd bury the sport for being white people stuff and hard to follow or care about, like how ESPN does it.

I'll be damned if he isn't a lovable advocate right now, and has kind of consistently been. That clip from a few weeks ago where he straight up said he was watching the hockey game because the basketball game they were covering was boring as hell was one of my favorites, nobody has to go out of their way to say that but he has been great since day one when he showed up in the studio to f*** around with the hockey sticks

He's been a fan for quite a while and I enjoy his frankness and enthusiasm.

For those who haven't seen it:



annnndddd

 

[twabby]

The NHL kicks ass. What a league!

 

[HTFN]

The NHL kicks ass. What a league!

It's like you learned nothing from the last time you mocked the Flames for doing "hockey guy" things and then they actually did okay.

 

[twabby]

It's like you learned nothing from the last time you mocked the Flames for doing "hockey guy" things and then they actually did okay.

Not sure getting swept by the Oilers, with Draisaitl playing on one leg, is a good thing!

 

[twabby]

But for real is any other league as into their own former players in management positions than the NHL?

 

[HTFN]

Not sure getting swept by the Oilers, with Draisaitl playing on one leg, is a good thing!

And yet even making the playoffs is way more than you were ever willing to give them, so don't pretend it was cup or bust.

 

[twabby]

And yet even making the playoffs is way more than you were ever willing to give them

I don’t think I said anything of the sort!

 

[Langway]

Would seem to indicate Dubas, Darche, Karmanos and Greeley remain in the running.

 

[Hivemind]

Glad that Pitt passed on Tulsky. Would hate to have that type of smarts behind the scenes for the Penguins

 

[twabby]

The executives asked to see Morehouse’s and Hextall’s plans for the business and hockey departments, respectively. Morehouse detailed team finances and waning ticket revenue in a PowerPoint presentation, but Hextall was caught off-guard by the request and said the hockey plan was in his head. Ordered to put it on paper, he scrambled that afternoon, hand writing his ideas on a legal pad, transferring them to a Word document and printing out a couple of pages in the hotel’s business office.

Any time I’m told that NHL GMs are the best hockey minds and not to question them, I will simply refer to this article and specifically this passage in this article to refute that point.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Any time I’m told that NHL GMs are the best hockey minds and not to question them, I will simply refer to this article and specifically this passage in this article to refute that point.

It never ceases to amaze me how incompetent/apathetic/lazy people are across various industries. That passage reminds me of my prior job where I ran monthly board meetings for the owners of the business; my first board meeting I showed up in person with a PowerPoint presentation that took me no more than 90 minutes to put together that talked about previous performance and had an agenda set up based on questions that the board members had asked me leading up to the meeting. It was a normal meeting, nothing out of the ordinary, but there was a presentation and their questions were answered. Afterwards I had multiple people come up to me and tell me that was the most productive board meeting they’d had in years and that the guy before me didn’t make materials for the meeting, used to dial into them instead of showing up in person (in a pre-Covid world), and would frequently ignore their questions and concerns. Just doing my job at a basic level of competence made me look like a rockstar. Also, treating people with decency is so, so easy and requires zero intelligence or talent but so many people in positions of authority can’t figure it out and f*** things up for themselves.

 

[Hivemind]

It still amazes me that Hextall got another GM job after his utter implosion in Philly, but I am so glad that it happened in Pittsburgh. He's been utterly incompetent on both ends of Pennsylvania now.

Hex, Spies, and Smaller Plates - A Final Analysis of the Flyers' firing of Ron Hextall

Work in and around professional sports long enough, and there are always going to be stories you cannot tell publicly. It’s the nature of the beast. Keeping some stories under wraps is how you build trust. It’s how you develop relationships with sources. It’s how you become an “insider,” so to...

www.crossingbroad.com

 

[StrikingDistance]

It never ceases to amaze me how incompetent/apathetic/lazy people are across various industries. That passage reminds me of my prior job where I ran monthly board meetings for the owners of the business; my first board meeting I showed up in person with a PowerPoint presentation that took me no more than 90 minutes to put together that talked about previous performance and had an agenda set up based on questions that the board members had asked me leading up to the meeting. It was a normal meeting, nothing out of the ordinary, but there was a presentation and their questions were answered. Afterwards I had multiple people come up to me and tell me that was the most productive board meeting they’d had in years and that the guy before me didn’t make materials for the meeting, used to dial into them instead of showing up in person (in a pre-Covid world), and would frequently ignore their questions and concerns. Just doing my job at a basic level of competence made me look like a rockstar. Also, treating people with decency is so, so easy and requires zero intelligence or talent but so many people in positions of authority can’t figure it out and f*** things up for themselves.

As someone who has done a lot of HR and Exec consulting, this is not unusual. I had an HR Exec of a Fortune 100 company provide an annual strategic staffing plan on the back of a chinese take out menu. It was framed in our office for years and when I thought times were tough, I would look up at it and think 'Well, at least I'm not that guy'. LOL

Dear Mr. Hextall:

 

[Corby78]

Any time I’m told that NHL GMs are the best hockey minds and not to question them, I will simply refer to this article and specifically this passage in this article to refute that point.

With that same logic: the last place racecar driving is bad at driving, the third string NFL punter is bad at kicking footballs, and the guy who finished 100th at the masters stinks at golf.

Context: these guys are in competition with the highest caliber hockey teams in the world. Pitt should be replacing those guys, but let’s not act like they are idiots or we all could do better.

 

[Hivemind]

With that same logic: the last place racecar driving is bad at driving, the third string NFL punter is bad at kicking footballs, and the guy who finished 100th at the masters stinks at golf.

Context: these guys are in competition with the highest caliber hockey teams in the world. Pitt should be replacing those guys, but let’s not act like they are idiots or we all could do better.

Uhhh... did you miss the quoted part of that? Where Hextall was completely unprepared to brief team ownership? Like, the point of the post wasn't to say that the last place finisher is bad at their job, it was to point out that some of these ex-players in the old boys club who get these management jobs really are truly unqualified for them.

 

[twabby]

With that same logic: the last place racecar driving is bad at driving, the third string NFL punter is bad at kicking footballs, and the guy who finished 100th at the masters stinks at golf.

Context: these guys are in competition with the highest caliber hockey teams in the world. Pitt should be replacing those guys, but let’s not act like they are idiots or we all could do better.

No it’d be like letting an 8 year old who likes Hot Wheels drive a real race car, or letting me play the Masters because I asked nicely.

Like what world are people living in where the most qualified people always get the open jobs? That’s fantasyland!

 

[Ridley Simon]

No it’d be like letting an 8 year old who likes Hot Wheels drive a real race car, or letting me play the Masters because I asked nicely.

Like what world are people living in where the most qualified people always get the open jobs? That’s fantasyland!

This is by no means a show of support for Hextall, in any fashion. None.

Ex players do know other parts of the job that a lay person isn’t going to. Just knowing how to put a PowerPoint together isn’t what they hire ex players for. It’s because they already know the ins and the outs of many other facets of the job. They have a lot of NHL experience, and that matters.

For every Hextall and Milbury, you have an Yzerman and Sakic.

Choosing ex players isn’t the tell all here.

 

[Corby78]

Uhhh... did you miss the quoted part of that? Where Hextall was completely unprepared to brief team ownership? Like, the point of the post wasn't to say that the last place finisher is bad at their job, it was to point out that some of these ex-players in the old boys club who get these management jobs really are truly unqualified for them.

Got it, I miss read your post and thought you were going somewhere else. To that I agree.

 

[Corby78]

No it’d be like letting an 8 year old who likes Hot Wheels drive a real race car, or letting me play the Masters because I asked nicely.

Like what world are people living in where the most qualified people always get the open jobs? That’s fantasyland!

No it’s not like that at all. Ron Hextal is not some random fan who likes hockey or an 8 year old. The guy may have not been cut out for management type stuff and wasn’t right for the job, but he has a much better understanding of hockey than you do golf.

 

[Jags]

No it’s not like that at all. Ron Hextal is not some random fan who likes hockey or an 8 year old. The guy may have not been cut out for management type stuff and wasn’t right for the job, but he has a much better understanding of hockey than you do golf.

I agree. Not every hockey executive or coach that was a former player is going to be great at written reports. Schoolin' ain't part'a most players' pedigrees. So a story about Hextall being comically bad at a written homework assignment with little time and working from a hotel room doesn't come across as all that damning to me. Context matters, and I don't expect staggering eloquence from a guy that spent 30 years of his life getting hit in the head for a living.

Having said all that, I do think Hextall is a shitty GM. If you're going to have an ex-player GM guided primarily by their first-hand experience of the league and pro game, you want the plan to either be evident in the moves made or otherwise articulated in some way, shape, or form. Expecting clarity in writing when you know your guy writes with crayons isn't reasonable. But when you're essentially trusting a GM to shape your club using The Force, you want to see them use The Force to do some crazy impressive Jedi shit, not just to throw frisbees with no hands.

 

[kicksavedave]

Its entirely possible that he wasn't fired because he didn't have a written plan when asked, or that he wrote his plan on a napkin in crayon, but because his plan that he did write down, stunk?