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

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Ted has a background in mass CD distribution and hiring ex caps. I wonder if Billington has an inside track being a former player.

What ex-Caps has Ted, specifically, hired? Weren't Hunter and Oates McPhee's choices?

 

[Capitlols]

What ex-Caps has Ted, specifically, hired? Weren't Hunter and Oates McPhee's choices?

Ted definitely has a big say. I remember one of the reasons they hired Oates was because Ted claimed "he knows the market".

 

[Halpysback*]

What ex-Caps has Ted, specifically, hired? Weren't Hunter and Oates McPhee's choices?

Cooper was McPhee's choice

 

[Thrice]

I am surprised no one here in the past 7+ years has discussed Brian MacLellan our assistant GM. I dont think he gets the job but how has he escaped even discussion here.

Hextall seems to be stealing credit for the Kings. I more credit Terry Murray that instilled the need to play defense in the young stars before he was let go. Yes, that same defense that landed them a cup, That same mentality we may need here yet seems feared by fans. Was Hextall there when they picked up Schultz? He has been eye balling Holmgren's job and I suspect also his GM mega splash style. No thanks.

Ted has a background in mass CD distribution and hiring ex caps. I wonder if Billington has an inside track being a former player.

Hextall specialized in player development while in Los Angeles. He was GM of the Monarchs and helped to establish, for the first time in Kings history, an actual talent pipeline from the minors to the big club. Here's a list of current NHL players that spent time in Manchester under Hextall's watch:

Goalies
Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Bernier
Martin Jones
Jeff Zatkoff

Defensemen
Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez
Thomas Hickey
Jake Muzzin
Peter Harrold

Forwards
Matt Moulson
Teddy Purcell
Brian Boyle
Kevin Westgarth
Rich Clune
M. A. Cliche
Trevor Lewis
Dwight King
Jordan Nolan
Andrei Loktionov

So, while Terry Murray was more responsible for the on-ice success (and failures), Hextall is unquestionably responsible, to varying levels, for the development of more than a few current NHLers. He, along with Dean Lombardi, instilled an organizational identity for the first time in team history.

 

[Thrice]

More on Joe Will:

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Database/San-Jose-Sharks-On-Thick-Ice/

Very interesting stuff.



So after the Sharks missed the playoffs in '02-'03, the Sharks cleaned house, but kept Will. They then made major off-season moves (including trading the team captain) based on Will's input. Since then, including one year pre-lockout, the Sharks have made the playoffs every year, and been eliminated in the first round only twice.

Sign me up.

The Head Coach and GM they fired went on to win a Stanley Cup together in LA. The Sharks still haven't reached the Finals.

 

[trick9]

Might be too late for Benning.

Trevor Linden was apparently meeting with Cam Neely few days ago in Boston and some people in the Bruins board think that Benning to Vancouver will be announced when the Bruins season is over. Hopefully this is not true.

 

[Midnight Judges]

My vote goes for Joe Will.

Not sold on "Won ring as an assistant GM = better future GM". Winning Stanley Cup as a player doesn't make you better than all players who have not.

It's not all about the cups but also the type of team they've built IMO. Every goalie they plug in there suddenly looks brilliant because they have a solid blue line. They have selke candidates. They are built for playoffs because they have tough players who can play, grind, swarm. GMGM seems to pick up mostly skill and finesse players. Outside of a few players (Ovie, Brouwer, Chimera, Ward, Erskine) there is a general lack of physicality.

 

[g00n]

Koken and Locker kept talking about how a new GM was stepping into a great situation in DC. Really? Sounds like salesmanship. This has been a sinking, dysfunctional organization for all but a few years and even then the stink they've carried with them for decades still managed to creep out at the worst times.

In my estimation this is a tough situation for any GM. Sure, you may have some job security for a number if years if you can keep the team in the playoffs, but you're going to be expected to get the team competing for a Cup, per Ted's criteria, in your first year. You're also going to have to navigate the mine field of personalities, bloated contracts, injury prone players and entitled squatters that have become part of the insular, metric-based culture of "just enough but no more", all in the 2nd year of a new Division that has proven tougher than the Southeast, as advertised.

And you're going to have to do it with the knowledge that this ownership group has meddled in decisions that may have consequences that will fall on your shoulders.

If it's true that McPhee wanted Cooper and upper management wanted Oates, it fits a pattern that we thought was supposed to be broken after the Jagr Experiment. That is NOT a good sign for any potential GM looking to put his mark on the organization, particularly with the kinds of comments comming from Dick Patrick yesterday that seemed to suggest a coaching hire prior to a GM hire was not out of the question under certain circumstances, and that a new GM will have to fit with the existing personalities (if that's less about McPhee being a cold fish around the water cooler and more about learning to cater to the star players).

The big question mark is still Dick Patrick, the man in the shadows for the last 30+ years. Maybe his own legacy/bloodline status has him skewing his decisions and the decisions he makes FOR his GMs toward former Capitals or people he has ties to. Maybe McPhee picked up on this preference and it seeped into has other personnel moves.

I don't think we can be sure anymore.

This is not morning-after sympathy for the devil toward McPhee. He had to go and new voices were definitely needed. But the more I think about DP's demeanor and choice of words in that press conference yesterday the more concerned I become about whether or not the new GM will truly have the freedom to make the BIG moves when it comes down to it.

 

[RandyHolt]

Good stuff g00n.

The fear is that Dick Patrick is a meddling owner.

It's hard to say what is going on. He may well have started meddling when he felt George needed help. The Oates pick, a hybrid choice of sorts that reflected Ted's desire to bring in a "known" name playing the marketing angle. DP right in the middle of all of it.

Maybe Katie's next big story should be on him. He did look like a surly angry guy yesterday. He may have been our GM and George just handled day to day operations.

 

[g00n]

Good stuff g00n.

The fear is that Dick Patrick is a meddling owner.

It's hard to say what is going on. He may well have started meddling when he felt George needed help. The Oates pick, a hybrid choice of sorts that reflected Ted's desire to bring in a "known" name playing the marketing angle. DP right in the middle of all of it.

Maybe Katie's next big story should be on him. He did look like a surly angry guy yesterday. He may have been our GM and George just handled day to day operations.

Ted kind of tried to address this angle by noting that this was the first time he's gone around and interviewed so many people at so many levels. He suggested the new GM will have the same level of autonomy. But that doesn't mean DP has kept the same distance, or that the GM will simply be free to do whatever he wants 100% of the time.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Koken and Locker kept talking about how a new GM was stepping into a great situation in DC. Really? Sounds like salesmanship. This has been a sinking, dysfunctional organization for all but a few years and even then the stink they've carried with them for decades still managed to creep out at the worst times.

In my estimation this is a tough situation for any GM. Sure, you may have some job security for a number if years if you can keep the team in the playoffs, but you're going to be expected to get the team competing for a Cup, per Ted's criteria, in your first year. You're also going to have to navigate the mine field of personalities, bloated contracts, injury prone players and entitled squatters that have become part of the insular, metric-based culture of "just enough but no more", all in the 2nd year of a new Division that has proven tougher than the Southeast, as advertised.

All good points but I think the job security thing is huge in the mind of any potential GM. Leonsis has given every GM he's ever had more than a chance to implement his vision. This is not an owner with an itchy trigger finger. You gotta believe this is a big factor for these guys.

 

[Langway]

@SunGarrioch: The belief in NHL circles is Washington wants a GM with experience. #NHL

So...Howson? No other ex-GM that comes to mind is particularly appealing.

 

[g00n]

All good points but I think the job security thing is huge in the mind of any potential GM. Leonsis has given every GM he's ever had more than a chance to implement his vision. This is not an owner with an itchy trigger finger. You gotta believe this is a big factor for these guys.

Right, which is why I mentioned the job security being there. There will be plenty of candidates lined up. But the notion that this is a great situation with plug and play success? Seems false.

 

[Blades of Steel]

seriously in before Gretzky is GM in Washington. say it aint so, don't even go there.

 

[g00n]

@SunGarrioch: The belief in NHL circles is Washington wants a GM with experience. #NHL

So...Howson? No other ex-GM that comes to mind is particularly appealing.

Maybe they're not looking at ex-GMs exclusively. Maybe they think they can pluck a current GM from some other team, particularly one in the playoffs. DP talked a lot about the ins and outs of getting permission to talk to other teams' executives.

I wonder if there are any GMs on current playoff teams who have expiring contracts or who may be ripe to leave for some reason (like more money).

 

[g00n]

seriously in before Gretzky is GM in Washington. say it aint so, don't even go there.

If it ends up being 99 then we can probably say this has been in the works all year.

 

[Langway]

It sounded more like DP was skeptical about talking to some AGMs due to a potential GM-in-waiting situation elsewhere (like a Hextall or Fenton). I don't know of any GMs on expiring contracts other than McPhee. It was said to be a rare situation to have a GM operating without an extension in place so doubtful there's another situation elsewhere. I wouldn't think, based on those statements, they're looking exclusively at ex-GMs.

 

[g00n]

It sounded more like DP was skeptical about talking to some AGMs due to a potential GM-in-waiting situation elsewhere (like a Hextall or Fenton). I don't know of any GMs on expiring contracts other than McPhee. It was said to be a rare situation to have a GM operating without an extension in place so doubtful there's another situation elsewhere. I wouldn't think, based on those statements, they're looking exclusively at ex-GMs.

Which begs the question, which ex-GMs have ties to DP or the Capitals in any way? It has to be a very short list.

 

[Blades of Steel]

If it ends up being 99 then we can probably say this has been in the works all year.

Yep, I remember that meeting during the season they had. Hopefully just friendly chatter and nothing more.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Benning.

Benning and Laviolette.

Would be the ideal combo!

 

[0V3CHKiN]

Caps need to hire outside of the organization (never worked for them and never played for them). I feel we are jinxed if we hire within the organization.

 

[Liberati0n*]

What was that thing about Pat Quinn yesterday? Isn't he like 80?

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Cooper was McPhee's choice

I guess I missed that. Where did that revelation come from?

 

[g00n]

I guess I missed that. Where did that revelation come from?

Check today's Puck Daddy. I think that's where I just saw it

 

[Liberati0n*]

Check today's Puck Daddy. I think that's where I just saw it

I would like to see it substantiated somehow. I don't think anyone's ever hinted at it before. If it's true, that's kind of sad. Two years of Oates could've been avoided. If it's true and "knowing the market" was a reason they wanted Oates, I don't even know. There are no words.