Management UPDATE: Steve Staios GM and POHO, Dave Poulin Senior VP of Hockey Operations

[Sun God Nika]

The only shitty thing is one day Andlauer will have to fire his friend steve..

it will be a Staios and Andlauer agree to go seperate ways. Don't think Andluer will go down the Melnyk route of trying to burry people. Also think he would step down as GM first and be just a POHO if things arent going well for a few years.

 

[bert]

Yeah I stuck through the Melnyk years with promises of better days, and we got two employees off a radio station. One who head coached like ten years ago, and the other was an exec 10 years ago. Ten years ago. Dave Poulin clearly was a hot commodity lololololol. And I love Dave Poulin on the radio, never miss his slot. But you very well know that Pierre McGuire was a guy that was mefia savvy and Melnyk brought him in because he was great on the f***ing radio. How did that go bert?

Our Living Legend coached his son's hockey team and is now behind an NHL bench because I guess it worked with Martin St. Louis? What's going on here? Alfie whould be a figurehead, what the hell is he doing behind a bench?

While you continue to label people around here who don't share your pie in the sky everythingisawesome vibe, you refuse to sit back and see how silly this organization looks. And lazy. This is "Best In Class"? I didn't think anything could rival FYOUS, but here we are. Best in Class.

Two employees who had radio hits off the local sport station.

No interviews. No one considered.

The interim GM twisted this season away while everyone was under the impression he was feverishly working behind the scenes and yet he just f***ing hired himself . He has no experience, and the same things we said about Dorion getting taken to the cleaners will undoubtedly happen here as this guy is as green as it gets.

Consider or don't consider my opinion, but if you think I am on the island about this move, re-reread this thread. Belittling and labelling people you dont agree with makes you sound like a meathead.

I'm done talking about this hire and time to move on

Yeah you're lost. These are real hockey people who played in the league. That have been in management already in the NHL. Absolutely nothing like dorion. Who never even played Jr b hockey. Who slithered his way to the top being a yes man. How you don't see the difference is baffling.

Martin literally won a cup in Pittsburgh in 2017. If you're gonna try and make a point atleast make an attempt to be accurate.

Lastly they took over this mess of an organization in pre season.... How hard is that for you to wrap your head around. 20 years of insane melnyk decisions and running this organization like a minor league team is ok. But now someone comes in and is methodical in changing the culture while adding literally everywhere and you don't like it. Asinine.

I am one of this teams biggest critics. Absurd to suggest I back everything. I just poses the ability to not approach it with a bias. I am capable of using common sense in understanding how much work this organization needs from a man power and culture change.

Alfie is a brilliant hockey mind, great to have around this teams young players. He has integrity and knows how to instill leadership and accountability.

It's not Staios's fault that Melnyks hires were sub par. He inherited this situation. The current coach's are temporary until they have time to do a proper search. I don't think they wanted to come in and fire Dorion and DJ but their hand was forced. The bad habits and terrible culture couldn't continue.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Yes, we really just have to wait to see how all of these things pan out. There's nothing else to do but that.

I would say they seem to have a lot of operations management staff now. I'm not sure what Bowness will do versus Poulin and what their specific responsibilities are, but I guess it doesn't matter. Staois mentioned Poulin would be more vision and big picture, but that's all the info that seems to be available on this topic.

I will say that it is time to see tangible and concrete results. We have been talking about "potential" a lot in here for quite some time. But, it does have to translate to results eventually. Hopefully those results aren't too far off in the future.

Absolutely. I don't blame anyone for preferring a different route for hires, but there's no sample size to actually judge here and we'll need to see how it goes. I can't take someone seriously that made a career out of defending Melnyk and his regime right up to the bitter end yet goes off the deep end already with this new regime. It's just so obviously sour grapes or trying to take one decision of not firing DJ sooner and making it the be all end all to say Staios & Co. can't hack it. Patience for Melnyk, including defending his character for years, but Alfredsson shouldn't be behind a bench and gets slandered. Patience for Dorion, but Staios doesn't deserve a shot because he's equally inexperienced. Patience for DJ, but Martin, likely one of the very few interim options available, was apparently nothing but a loser and deserving of being slandered for something from 20 years ago as if he's learned nothing. Poulin and Martin labeled as TSN 1200 hires to cut them down as if they're comparable to Melnyk's Pierre Maguire joke hire. It's sour grapes.

But yes, as far as the actual matter at hand goes, some tangible results will need to be seen. Of course. I just don't know when that is. They took over a team in camp and gave DJ and Dorion one last shot over whatever interim hires may have been at their disposal at the time. We know they couldn't get their guys. In hindsight, giving those guys a last shot was a mistake, but at least they didn't hire them and did eventually fire them.

I just want to see some patience before the troll posts come out. We had one of the worst owners in pro sports and a rookie dictator GM hiring from a pool of cheap coaches only. They just took over from Moe, Larry and Curly a matter of months/weeks ago. Now we have an owner without a terrible reputation dumping in resources, random hiring's every few weeks, and a collaborative team full of experience. We can't seriously be lumping Andlauer in with Melnyk after 33 flipping games after buying the team so late. We can't hold him accountable immediately as if he's entirely to blame for something he's basically just purchased and taken over so far and been nothing but punished since.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

"I prefer a two - headed monster " - Michael Andlauer (when it comes to having a a GM and a POHO.

Guess not. Glad Ian Mendes told him to his face, hope he doesn't get blackballed again!

Not sure if this is nit picking.. I get the titles but I think Andlauer wanted something like Montreal has

Now I realize its not exactly the same but in both cases one reports to the other. And Could this not work effectively the same way with Poulin and Staios.
How did you envision a 2 headed monster and how would it be different. Is it the extended authority of Staios? It could play a factor . Roles and responsibilities have to be defined.. I think they talked a bit about that. Is it a 2 headed monster from a structural perspective or a collaborative perspective?

 

[BankStreetParade]

Nothing but patience for a crook. Meanwhile this new guy doesn't even get half a season. Crazy. After basically a career of backing Melnyk, I can't help but assume they've been waiting to jump on this. 15 years into Melnyk's terrible ownership patience was continued to be preached despite the sample size. Now 33 THIRTY-THREE! games in after taking over in training camp and running a team built entirely by the previous regime and these guys are apparently completely lost. It's not judging the results, it's confirming bias on a tiny sample size of almost no actual direct impact.

Do you just sit around fantasizing about things that never happened and come up with these posts in response? Who preached patience during anything but the formative years of the rebuild? I don't recall seeing anyone in 2013, 2014 or 2015 talking about patience. Or in 2016. Or 2017. Or 2018.

It wasn't until the rebuild started and we began gathering prospects and draft capital that we collectively talked about patience bearing out results.

The rebuild is over. Fans have been hungry for playoffs for years now. The new guy is talking about "best in class". And you're actually wondering why people are impatient? Jesus Christ, read the room.

The last guy hired inexperienced guys at every level of the organization. The new guy is now hiring inexperienced guys at every level of the organization. Explain the difference? The new GM speaks better? Is that the f***ing bar now? We've replaced inexperience with a smoother talking inexperience. Wow. Bravo us!

A fanbase that had watched years and years of bare-bones operations, staffed with inexperience, now wants experience, qualified personnel and people of repute to run things. Now who's the one making excuses for ownership?

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Would be a smart hire.

Why

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

The Sens seem to be following the Oilers model of hiring from within that has aided the Oilers so much over the past 30 years.

In fact, it is surprising there isn't an ex-Oiler in there somewhere advising them.

Oh wait:

Steve Staios - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Do you just sit around fantasizing about things that never happened and come up with these posts in response? Who preached patience during anything but the formative years of the rebuild? I don't recall seeing anyone in 2013, 2014 or 2015 talking about patience. Or in 2016. Or 2017. Or 2018.

It wasn't until the rebuild started and we began gathering prospects and draft capital that we collectively talked about patience bearing out results.

The rebuild is over. Fans have been hungry for playoffs for years now. The new guy is talking about "best in class". And you're actually wondering why people are impatient? Jesus Christ, read the room.

The last guy hired inexperienced guys at every level of the organization. The new guy is now hiring inexperienced guys at every level of the organization. Explain the difference? The new GM speaks better? Is that the f***ing bar now? We've replaced inexperience with a smoother talking inexperience. Wow. Bravo us!

A fanbase that had watched years and years of bare-bones operations, staffed with inexperience, now wants experience, qualified personnel and people of repute to run things. Now who's the one making excuses for ownership?

I'm not imagining anything with this specific poster. Years of excuses for the guy that was almost solely responsible for the putrid state of the franchise, that it is still recovering from today and will need to continue to do.

It's been 33 games. So much anger in some of those posts. Pot shots at franchise legends like Alfie and Martin. The sour grapes in there was obvious. Where was this anger and passion under Melnyk?

I am also upset and disappointed. Don't get me wrong. I would have liked Dorion and DJ turfed immediately, regardless of not being able to install permanent hires because they were obviously both dead men walking, but I'm sure as shit not going to turn on these guys 33 games, 3 months in. Especially after being dealt a shit hand on the sale and being a capped out team that underperformed again immediately. I'm giving them a chance and time is all, even if I would consider it a mistake to have stuck with DJ too long. So far, it's one or two mistakes, not a laundry list of them like Melnyk & Dorion. Honestly, complain away, but shouldn't it still be the previous regime holding like 99% of the blame here? Some of those posts were ridiculous, as if they've been sitting on them for a decade just waiting to drop them not even half a season in to the new owners tenure.

 

[SpezDispenser]

I think Staois is a good candidate. Poulin is very interesting, basically I like it, but I will say staois and co waited way too long to fire dj - and it's cost us the year, so hopefully in future decisions are made with more authority.

 

[DylanSensFan]

Yeah I stuck through the Melnyk years with promises of better days, and we got two employees off a radio station. One who head coached like ten years ago, and the other was an exec 10 years ago. Ten years ago. Dave Poulin clearly was a hot commodity lololololol. And I love Dave Poulin on the radio, never miss his slot. But you very well know that Pierre McGuire was a guy that was mefia savvy and Melnyk brought him in because he was great on the f***ing radio. How did that go bert?

Our Living Legend coached his son's hockey team and is now behind an NHL bench because I guess it worked with Martin St. Louis? What's going on here? Alfie whould be a figurehead, what the hell is he doing behind a bench?

While you continue to label people around here who don't share your pie in the sky everythingisawesome vibe, you refuse to sit back and see how silly this organization looks. And lazy. This is "Best In Class"? I didn't think anything could rival FYOUS, but here we are. Best in Class.

Two employees who had radio hits off the local sport station.

No interviews. No one considered.

The interim GM twisted this season away while everyone was under the impression he was feverishly working behind the scenes and yet he just f***ing hired himself . He has no experience, and the same things we said about Dorion getting taken to the cleaners will undoubtedly happen here as this guy is as green as it gets.

Consider or don't consider my opinion, but if you think I am on the island about this move, re-reread this thread. Belittling and labelling people you dont agree with makes you sound like a meathead.

I'm done talking about this hire and time to move on

Here's my question to you. Who out there would do a better job than Staios? I can't think of a GM out there currently, who I really want leading our team. Honestly, I'd rather a fresh take in Staios and don't mind these other hires. However, if they fail, Andlauer will have to fire them. Judging by how quickly Andlauer fired Dorion, I don't think he will hesitate to drop the hammer if the team continues on this poor trajectory. I also don't foresee Martin and Alfie as long term coaches for this team, but I guess that remains to be seen.

 

[DylanSensFan]

Staios isn't some newb when it comes to being a GM or working with teams like the WJC U20, TML, Hamilton Bulldogs. He's been at it in the minors and the NHL for a while now.

Steve Staios at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com staff profile of Steve Staios, 1973-07-28 Hamilton, ON, CAN Canada.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

I'm still expecting one of Staios' roles to be filled when the right candidate comes along, likely the GM position in the summer.

 

[UglyPuckling]

Absolutely. I don't blame anyone for preferring a different route for hires, but there's no sample size to actually judge here and we'll need to see how it goes. I can't take someone seriously that made a career out of defending Melnyk and his regime right up to the bitter end yet goes off the deep end already with this new regime. It's just so obviously sour grapes or trying to take one decision of not firing DJ sooner and making it the be all end all to say Staios & Co. can't hack it. Patience for Melnyk, including defending his character for years, but Alfredsson shouldn't be behind a bench and gets slandered. Patience for Dorion, but Staios doesn't deserve a shot because he's equally inexperienced. Patience for DJ, but Martin, likely one of the very few interim options available, was apparently nothing but a loser and deserving of being slandered for something from 20 years ago as if he's learned nothing. Poulin and Martin labeled as TSN 1200 hires to cut them down as if they're comparable to Melnyk's Pierre Maguire joke hire. It's sour grapes.

But yes, as far as the actual matter at hand goes, some tangible results will need to be seen. Of course. I just don't know when that is. They took over a team in camp and gave DJ and Dorion one last shot over whatever interim hires may have been at their disposal at the time. We know they couldn't get their guys. In hindsight, giving those guys a last shot was a mistake, but at least they didn't hire them and did eventually fire them.

I just want to see some patience before the troll posts come out. We had one of the worst owners in pro sports and a rookie dictator GM hiring from a pool of cheap coaches only. They just took over from Moe, Larry and Curly a matter of months/weeks ago. Now we have an owner without a terrible reputation dumping in resources, random hiring's every few weeks, and a collaborative team full of experience. We can't seriously be lumping Andlauer in with Melnyk after 33 flipping games after buying the team so late. We can't hold him accountable immediately as if he's entirely to blame for something he's basically just purchased and taken over so far and been nothing but punished since.

I think I've basically just closed the door on Melnyk and Dorion era. Its water under the bridge now so to speak I suppose for me. Thankfully both are gone now, and its a new era.

I'm hoping for the best and will just wait and observe. It will take time for staff to be added and to plug holes. So, I'm not expecting immediate results although that "new coach" bump I guess is in the back of my mind.

Ultimately, I just want to see results. After so many years of waiting, I guess there's some tendency to want to see the "potential" translate into tangible results even though an immediate transformation might be a little too optimistic. I think we are seeing the reprogramming of players into playing a more sound defensive game as a work in progress. I think playoffs are beyond what can be expected for this year, but it would be nice to see improvements and distinct signs and evidence that the transformation is taking shape & place.

 

[h2]

I think Staois is a good candidate. Poulin is very interesting, basically I like it, but I will say staois and co waited way too long to fire dj - and it's cost us the year, so hopefully in future decisions are made with more authority.

Agreed.

Keeping the old key personnel from the previous regime was a bad move. Dorion and DJ should have been fired the moment the sale closed. I understand they wanted to portray stability, but the time to do that was after everyone was fired.

I'm still in disbelief that Dorion was allowed to run things and for as long as he did. So much incompetence.

 

[Emerica]

So what is next? Director of amateur scouting?

Last year we had:
Pierre Dorion - GM
Trent Mann - AGM & Director of scouting
Ryan Bowness - AGM

And that was considered the thinnest front office in the league. Now we have:
Steve Staios - GM & POHO
Dave Poulin - VP Hockey Ops
Ryan Bowness - Associate GM

 

[Loach]

So what is next? Director of amateur scouting?

Last year we had:
Pierre Dorion - GM
Trent Mann - AGM & Director of scouting
Ryan Bowness - AGM

And that was considered the thinnest front office in the league. Now we have:
Steve Staios - GM & POHO
Dave Poulin - VP Hockey Ops
Ryan Bowness - Associate GM

Would the off season time line apply to hiring other positions as well?

 

[Sun God Nika]

There are extremes on both sides. I see the similarities to Melnyk narrative of hiring guys with little to no experience and undesired by the rest of the league. I also see these as good hockey people that weren't hired by an alcoholic who had a hunch.

I think time will be the indicator on how everything turns out before we hold Andluer accountable with the fan narrative on his ownership decisions. Personally I am ecstatic seeing Alfie behind a NHL bench. For sure his only coaching experience is peewee but at the end of the day he is in a interim assistant coaching gig on a team with a lost season. This is a great opportunity for him to build experience. I do believe they should have found an external GM that doesn't have ties to ownership/existing management through a proper interview process. This sounds like people who like to sniff their own farts to be honest.

 

[jake1]

I'm guessing the guy or guys they would like to hire are simply not available right now. But since the franchise cannot exist in suspended animation until summer, they need to add competence now that can slide up or over upon the permanent hires. It's just another positive step. Of course I'm so delusional I don't even think this season is over yet.

 

[Dionysus]

Why

Have you ever listened to her analysis? Very sharp hockey mind.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

During the presser did they mention that at some point a permanent GM will be sought after or is Staios that GM?

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Have you ever listened to her analysis? Very sharp hockey mind.

I find she says the same cookie cutter stuff everyone else says.
I would prefer a guy with many cups under his belt

 

[DylanSensFan]

So what is next? Director of amateur scouting?

Last year we had:
Pierre Dorion - GM
Trent Mann - AGM & Director of scouting
Ryan Bowness - AGM

And that was considered the thinnest front office in the league. Now we have:
Steve Staios - GM & POHO
Dave Poulin - VP Hockey Ops
Ryan Bowness - Associate GM

I don't think we are finished hiring.

 

[DueDiligence]

That you don’t call people to their faces idiots?

Or he is scared to call people idiots to their faces.

 

[Dionysus]

I find she says the same cookie cutter stuff everyone else says.
I would prefer a guy with many cups under his belt

Agree to disagree. I think she would be a great addition.

 

[Micklebot]

Isn't it absolutely absurd? We have a guy spinning the same f***ing song and dance for these guys to fall for and they're taking it hook, line and sinker.

Dorion was a talentless buffoon, who bumbled every word he spoke, was super inexperienced and should have never been anywhere near the helm of an organization. Right? But Staios is a bastion of experience, finesse and expertise because of, what, his months on the job as a low-level advisor? Because he speaks clearly?

I honestly don't understand how this board isn't freaking out. They spent the entire time we were going through the sale process dreaming up candidates and ideal scenarios for people to be involved in the most important positions within the organization. And now we have a guy with 0 NHL experience at GM and POHO doing BOTH f***ING POSITIONS. The reaction in here is honestly beyond belief.

This is what you guys wanted? Another guy with no experience taking over? After spending 7 f***ing years talking about how the last guy didn't have any experience either?

You know, 35/100 is significantly and vastly better than 5/100 but it's still 35 out of a f***ing 100. That's where we are now. Our front office is a 35/100 and we're supposed to be leaping for joy at the improvement like this is what "best in class" means.

Brutal. I can't believe how you guys are falling for this shit.

If Melnyk had made this kind of hire - a guy with 0 NHL experience as POHO or GM, doing both roles - you guys would be LOSING YOUR f***ING SHIT right now. Just think about that sentence for a minute so you can understand how little logical consistency there is.

I don't recall people taking issue with Dorion originally being promoted to GM, the issue people had was with his perceived performance after being hired and that he kept the role so long in spite of it.

In terms of experience, Staois does have about 7 years experience as a president/GM in Hamilton, along with experience with Hockey Canada as director of player dev, and as GM for the U20 team. He has experience in the NHL as an assistant coach, as a consultant, and as a special assistant to the GM. About a decades worth of working his way up after his playing career ended.

Now, compare that to Darche, who seemed to be among the more desirable candidates for many, 3 yrs as director of hockey ops in Tbay, and one and counting as assistant GM. Pretty similar to Bowness if we're being honest.

Poulin has a decade of experience as a university level coach, a couple yrs scouting for Anaheim, and 5 yrs working for Toronto as director of hockey ops, two double hated as Marlies GM.

So who is more experienced? Darche, Bowness, Poulin or Staois? Honestly, one might argue Darche is the least experienced of the bunch, and I'm fairly sure people would have loved it if we hired him.