It’s time for Flyers to finally move on from the past — and a culture that’s been holding them back

[pilldoc]

18 minutes ago, aziz said:

@mojo1917

fair enough, you're right, he has some experience there.  Not particularly great results, but he's been there, anyway.

 

You point out a real problem, though:  how do you identify a GM candidate who hasn't been a GM for an NHL team before, or at least high up in an NHL organization?  And even then, "experience" high up in an organization doesn't mean that person did anything of value while in that spot.  A lot of people like Mellanby were handed jobs that show experience, but give no clues as to expertise.  Briere is now the "interim GM" for the Flyers.  Whether he gets the job for real or not, that's on his resume, and puts him on a short list of candidates for other GM gigs.  There is no objective reason to think he has any idea what he's doing, but he's had the title for a bit, so that puts him over the top.

 

It isn't like there's a college degree about managing an NHL team.  What qualifications other that having already done the job are there?  How do you find new talent for that role?  What parameters are there for the General Manager of an NHL team?  I am sure there are literally tens -if not hundreds- of thousands of people out there who know enough and are smart enough to be absolutely brilliant in that job, but there is no effective way of finding them.  "Did he play in the NHL" seems to be the only metric anyone can find, and that's a useless measure.

I'll be honest:  if I were a team President, I'd be looking at forums exactly like this.  At least to build perspective.  The current litmus test of, "has the hockey world heard of this guy, and has he proven himself in an unrelated role to said hockey world" is worthless.  My ego being as tiny as it is, I think I'd make a great GM.  As would others on this site.  Not to mention all of the other deep hockey forums across the continent.  None of those people have credentials, as the only recognized credentials are having done it already.  Or impressed people with their point totals 15 years ago.

 

The salient requirements for an NHL GM are:

 

1.  understands hockey

2. understands the current meta of the NHL game

3. is able to project forward how the meta might shift

4. is analytical and thoughtful as to the holistic composition of an NHL team

5. is clever enough to leverage the language of the standing CBA to best effect, both immediately and over the course of a proposed contract

6. is a strong and cunning negotiator, able to find the most profitable exchange when trades are required

7. able to walk away when a profitable exchange cannot be secured

8. understands the timing and opportunities of the various touchpoints of a season: how to handle pre-season rosters, first day rosters, pre-trade freeze rosters, trade deadlines, post-elimination, pre-draft, post-draft, FA expirations.  These all represent opportunities for advantage.  Advantage can't be found in all, but certainly some.  And walk away from those that do not.

 

And....that's it.  That's what makes a successful GM.  None of those are the skills of a hockey player.  None of those are reserved to people that put up good numbers as a winger.  Several people on this site have those.  It's a deeply weird thing, where probably the best people for that particular job have no previous experience as employees of the NHL or one of its franchises.  But how do you sell some career IT guy in Virginia to the executives and the public as the team's next GM?

 

I included myself in the above, but probably shouldn't have.  The point is the most capable people to do that specific job likely haven't done anything resembling that job before, or have any professional attachment to the league/game.  The "you have to be highly visible in NHL circles already" limitation placed on candidates means teams are almost always working with a hugely reduced candidate pool.  A candidate pool qualified by a quality that has nothing to do with managing a team.  The people most likely to do the best job in that spot are likely way way way outside of consideration for that job.  And that means it will always be a sh|tshow that occasionally works, and often makes us all laugh.

 

So long as it remains insular, so long as "have the fans heard of him" remains a requirement, the GM spot for any team may or may not be filled by a person actually capable of answering the 8 points above.  And in most cases, messes will follow.

 

 

what an absolutely fantastic post….

 

lots of points many of us don’t think of and for us to digest. Gonna have to reread a couple of times to fully understand.

 

Thank you!

[OccamsRazor]

3 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

That team looks pretty good to me today.

 

Hell it should.

 

Since 2017 draft they had 3 #1 overalls, an 2nd overall and a 4th overall.

 

So yeah 5 top 4 overalls in 6 drafts you should be able to rebuild quickly if you keep the picks.

 

And for the Flyers I give you Nolan Patrick.

 

Yeah I said what I said.

 

If wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't...

[radoran]

18 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

Since 2017 draft they had 3 #1 overalls, an 2nd overall and a 4th overall.

 

So yeah 5 top 4 overalls in 6 drafts you should be able to rebuild quickly if you keep the picks.

 

It's almost an argument for "tanking"...

 

[OccamsRazor]

2 hours ago, radoran said:

 

It's almost an argument for "tanking"...

 

 

If only the Flyer could just done that RIGHT for once like this year would have been great!!!!!

[flyercanuck]

1 minute ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

If only the Flyer could just done that RIGHT for once like this year would have been great!!!!!

 

And they didn't even have to tank...just trade off the likes of Hayes/JVR/Deangelo and maybe one or two more to grab more 2nd and 3rd rounders for a deep draft. A bit of luck on one or two of those could speed up things...it would help a lot more than having those three on the team.

 

Instead we had Fletcher and Homer hoping Mike Rathje and co. would come back from injury and hey, anything can happen. 

[OccamsRazor]

12 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

And they didn't even have to tank...just trade off the likes of Hayes/JVR/Deangelo and maybe one or two more to grab more 2nd and 3rd rounders for a deep draft.

 

My 11 old daughter would have been a better GM than Chuck but you have to deal with the LuLuLemon advertising along the hologram wall around the rink...

 

 

[GrittyForever]

You want a senior executive who won't take crap from Clarke you hire this guy. 

 

 

Apparently Dudley has a great track record in picking the right draft prospects. Something the Flyers haven't been all that good at. Just saying, old school, but not Flyer in breeding. 

[ruxpin]

No posts from south of Phoenix since before Chuck was fired.

 

Another reason the Flyers should have done it sooner