Speculation: Who should be the new GM of the Washington Capitals?

[kicksavedave]

In order of readiness I would guess Benning (BOS), MacIver (CHI), Sweeney (BOS), Futa (LAK) and maybe Botterill (PIT).

I'm sure you know that's the last 5 Cup winners and 7 total finals appearances in the past 7 years.

Bottom line for me, there are a lot of candidates out there with average resumes, who may be great GMs. And being the AGM of a recent Cup winner is of course no guarantee he's the right guy either. You likely have just as much chance to find the right guy coming from a championship environment as you do finding him from one of the many other also rans. If you're going to put together the list of people to interview, why would their resume not be the first place you look? Do we really trust Ted and Dick to pluck the obscure genius from Phoenix or Ottawa or St Louis or Winnipeg, or Nashville? Or should we be looking at the franchises that are consistently excellent? The franchises that build the right way, AND have success to show for it. Clearly Dick has no idea how to build a franchise with the right culture, so they better find a GM who can do that and empower him. I'm skeptical.

Ted has NEVER hired a GM in 20 plus years owning two franchises. The guy he kept forever had a bizarre track record of hiring coaches with no experience at that level, and 3/5 of them failed badly. Why is there any reason to believe Ted will hire the right guy, in his first attempt, if he plans on trying to find the needle in the haystack, instead of looking at the top 5 resumes in the league? GMGM kept trying to find the needle in the haystack. All he ended up with was hay.

 

[kicksavedave]

Especially if he sits on his arse for a month until all the obvious interviews are gone.

 

[txpd]

I think its been pretty well established that the gm hasn't been hiring the coaches. he has input but is not making the decision.

Leonsis was quoted as saying that he and Patrick and McPhee interviewed all the coaching candidates when they hired Cassidy. He said that each of the three recommended a different applicant and that Cassidy was Leonsis choice. With that on the table Leonsis has now been quoted as saying he would like to hire a gm before hiring a coach in part because he would want the new gm to assist them in hiring the next coach. Add to that the report that it was Leonsis that was that hired Oates and not McPhee.

Looking at the coaches hired, you have Cassidy, Hanlon, Boudreau, Hunter and Oates. Cassidy and Oates were hired by Leonsis and were not McPhee's choice. Boudreau was hired as an interm coach and by many indications so was Hunter. Its unclear about Hanlon.

I think that its Leonsis that likes those rookie coaches and I would not be shocked to see that trend continue.

 

[Langway]

Do we really trust Ted and Dick to pluck the obscure genius from Phoenix or Ottawa or St Louis or Winnipeg, or Nashville?

San Jose's Joe Will could be that guy but, no, I wouldn't expect ownership to be able to sift through and find that guy on their own. If there's a bright side to 99 as President potentially it's that maybe he adds some gravitas and insight throughout the interview process. He would need to be empowered and have a sense of what they're looking for but maybe he could help them make an actual decision. IF he's checked...IF cronyism is off the table maybe that's the presence they need to finally put the right people in place. The bar is low.

If Leonsis won't stop meddling and the whole new leadership thing is just a song and dance then they're most likely doomed. (Yay.)

 

[txpd]

Especially if he sits on his arse for a month until all the obvious interviews are gone.

what's an arse?

 

[kicksavedave]

what's an arse?

I first heard it from Mr Edmunds from the ESPN and then Ms Caps Fans forum days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arse

 

[kicksavedave]

I think its been pretty well established that the gm hasn't been hiring the coaches. he has input but is not making the decision.

Leonsis was quoted as saying that he and Patrick and McPhee interviewed all the coaching candidates when they hired Cassidy. He said that each of the three recommended a different applicant and that Cassidy was Leonsis choice. With that on the table Leonsis has now been quoted as saying he would like to hire a gm before hiring a coach in part because he would want the new gm to assist them in hiring the next coach. Add to that the report that it was Leonsis that was that hired Oates and not McPhee.

Looking at the coaches hired, you have Cassidy, Hanlon, Boudreau, Hunter and Oates. Cassidy and Oates were hired by Leonsis and were not McPhee's choice. Boudreau was hired as an interm coach and by many indications so was Hunter. Its unclear about Hanlon.

I think that its Leonsis that likes those rookie coaches and I would not be shocked to see that trend continue.

The more it sounds like Ted hiring these failed coaches, the less likely it is we'll find the right GM.

Doom and gloom indeed.

 

[usiel]

In order of readiness I would guess Benning (BOS), MacIver (CHI), Sweeney (BOS), Futa (LAK) and maybe Botterill (PIT).

Well for me it starts with taking a look at existing and highly successful current GMs and then looking at the assistant GMs and evaluating them. Botterill just seems too young. MacIver because Chi Town because Chi Town=Cups. Benning seems like a decent choice just don't mess with the Mahoney @ Co..

 

[fedfed]

I remain on the Joe Will hype train.

 

[usiel]

I remain on the Joe Will hype train.

He is in my top five /me whatevers

 

[g00n]

I think its been pretty well established that the gm hasn't been hiring the coaches. he has input but is not making the decision.

Leonsis was quoted as saying that he and Patrick and McPhee interviewed all the coaching candidates when they hired Cassidy. He said that each of the three recommended a different applicant and that Cassidy was Leonsis choice. With that on the table Leonsis has now been quoted as saying he would like to hire a gm before hiring a coach in part because he would want the new gm to assist them in hiring the next coach. Add to that the report that it was Leonsis that was that hired Oates and not McPhee.

Looking at the coaches hired, you have Cassidy, Hanlon, Boudreau, Hunter and Oates. Cassidy and Oates were hired by Leonsis and were not McPhee's choice. Boudreau was hired as an interm coach and by many indications so was Hunter. Its unclear about Hanlon.

I think that its Leonsis that likes those rookie coaches and I would not be shocked to see that trend continue.

Hanlon was probably a cheap internal promotion they felt they could agree on prior to the lockout as a developmental guide to the rebuild. I think Leonsis and DP have the fetish for keeping it in the family and McPhee was OK with the rookie coaches who would be less likely to knock over his apple cart.

 

[RandyHolt]

If McPhee's hands were tied he should have quit long ago, like Prior did. Philosophical differences.

Yet most here seem to think McPhee was pretty good. He was no pushover on the ice. What happened? He should have had no trouble landing another job if he was good.

 

[Marshall]

Annnnd the Flyers will name Hextall gm, according to @DNFlyers.

 

[trick9]

Some rumblings on the Canucks board that Linden has now started to interview his GM candidates, which includes both Benning and Fenton.

 

[RandyHolt]

Yeah for hairplugs!

 

[ChibiPooky]

Just say no to hairplugs

Yeah for hairplugs!

I'm starting to question your stance on hairplugs

 

[Kegger]

I remain on the Joe Will hype train.

I may be joining you on that train....

 

[Langway]

Some rumblings on the Canucks board that Linden has now started to interview his GM candidates, which includes both Benning and Fenton.

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/h...ng+tricky+hiring+minefield/9812413/story.html

Of course, he’d like to get his general manager in place first, and the Canucks have been given permission to speak to leading candidate Jim Benning, Boston’s assistant general manager.

This has been a rather delicate issue for Linden to navigate, which the president hinted at a week ago after officially firing Tortorella when he said: “Getting permission is not as easy as a simple phone call ... Teams have concerns about their people.â€

But this goes beyond being granted permission to interview, something Linden himself suggested when, after being pushed for comment on hiring an executive on another team, he said: “There may need to be a partnership moving forward.â€

That’s important because word out of Boston early in this process was that they’d like to keep Benning until after the draft.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Is it really worth waiting on the "right" guy until after the draft? I'm fine with Mahoney running the show. I'm not fine with having no one to make trades on draft day. That's a pretty big opportunity to punt.

 

[Stewie G]

The latest 30 Thoughts had a couple of interesting items regarding compensation to organizations who lose employees to other clubs.

26. One subject Holland politely refused to discuss: compensation for losing your employees to other clubs. (He will not allow contact with AHL Grand Rapids coach Jeff Blashill, who would be a big-time contender for open NHL jobs.) This is a big issue for several teams who strongly believe you shouldn't lose good people for nothing. This practice ended in 2006, when commissioner Gary Bettman had to negotiate Peter Chiarelli's move from Ottawa to Boston because Senator owner Eugene Melnyk was mildly unhappy with the whole thing. Bettman ended this.

27. However, according to several sources, there is a movement to create some kind of draft-pick compensation. And it appears support is growing. Don't be surprised if it's on the agenda for the GM meetings at the Stanley Cup final. From what I understand, Bettman told the GMs at the last get-together he wouldn't consider any proposal that left room for interpretation. As mentioned, Holland, who has lost several critical staffers in the past few seasons, wouldn't discuss it. But word is we are talking about a relatively high pick (although not a first-rounder) and the team losing the selection would have a multi-year window to give it up. (Usual disclaimer: No one quoted in this blog is used as an off-the-record source.)

 

[blokeyhighlander]

The latest 30 Thoughts had a couple of interesting items regarding compensation to organizations who lose employees to other clubs.

My initial thought is that this doesn't sound fair, but then I remembered these guys are on contracts, so the rules are a bit different.

 

[MyCapsCap]

The latest 30 Thoughts had a couple of interesting items regarding compensation to organizations who lose employees to other clubs.

Coming form a football fans view who has only been following Hockey for four years now.... This makes no sense. Coordinators and assistants get sniped all the time because they did a good enough job that someone else wants to promote them. If the team they are with doesn't want to promote them up the ladder in their organization why shouldn't they be allowed to go somewhere else and take a higher up position?

Then again this is coming from someone who has ZERO knowledge about how the front office stuff works in the NHL and its the first off season im actually trying to follow.

 

[Chokingdogs]

Annnnd the Flyers will name Hextall gm, according to @DNFlyers.

* jaws theme *

whammy!

 

[RockDaRed]

This is gonna end up a disaster isn't it?

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Yeah for hairplugs!

Caps dodged a bullet.