Yes, they are not comparable situations at all. Cam spent 3 years as VP of the Bruins before being promoted to President.
My understanding, and if anyone has more direct knowledge please add on, is that Neely was also highly involved with his Neely Foundation, so he came in with managerial experience in a fairly substantial organization.
That's correct, he founded the Neely Foundation and Neely House and was active in running the organization, especially after he retired from hockey. At the time he joined the Bruins he had some managment experienced through those organizations and then spent a few years learning the ropes inside an NHL ogranization before being promoted to team President.
Yeah, I've got no issue with Briere. He's put in work and is generally highly thought of. That said, if I was a Flyers fan, I'd probably be rolling my eyes that they yet again went with a family hire.
I'm a Flyer fan and I think they are trying whatever they can to stay above water in a city that is largely ignoring them. Tortorella has openly said they need to get rid of guys and Jones/Briere have been around the team all year. I don't think Torts will have to push too hard to get these guys on board with his plan if they already see what he does.
From what I understand, the proposal was basically completely privately funded. Voters just didn't want it. The area is currently a landfill that is poisoning the local water and would have been cleaned up as part of this project. That might be the funniest part of all of this, locals preferring a toxic landfill to a free stadium for the Coyotes.
Does Bryan Berard qualify? Probably not, but pretty damn close. From wikipedia:
I think that you also have to add another team in Toronto as well. There always seems to be someone pushing the agenda for another team in Toronto whenever expansion and relocation pops up. It wouldn't shock me if Portland, San Diego and Hamilton, ONT are other locales to add to the list too.
Toronto certainly could support a second team, but wouldn't the Leafs raise holy hell? They already share the same city with their AHL affiliate and can't imagine they want to cede any of the GTA to another franchise.
Yeah, I never understood why Milwaukee has never been a choice either. The Wisconsin hockey team is beloved in that state, I think that the Admirals do pretty well too. Aside from not being in the sun belt, I'm not sure exactly what I'm missing here.
Hamilton does have a stadium ready to go, but both the Leafs and the Sabres have the right to block a move for territorial reasons. Another team in Toronto would be difficult for the same reasons and even if the Leafs granted permission while waiting for a new stadium, trying to schedule an additional 40+ dates around the Raptors and Leafs schedule would be tricky. Portland is interesting but might be considered to close to Vancouver and Seattle.
I'm not sure what Keefe's contract status is but I'd imagine his fate will be left to the next GM.
...and by noon of the next business day after Dubas was fired, FSG has permission to speak to him about a job in Pittsburgh.
He was fired. The contracts for coaches and front office personel are guaranteed. When a GM gets "fired" it's really a "relieved of duties" type thing. They don't rip up the rest of the contract, the contract remains in place and the GM gets paid what is owed for the remainder of the deal. Therefor the team still owns that person as an employee, and thus they need to grant permission for other teams to talk to their fired employee. It's generally a non-issue since if the fired employee gets hired by a new team, the original team is then off the hook for paying the fired person. In this particular case, Dubas is a pending free agent but his contract doesn't expire until 6/30. If anyone wants to talk to him prior to 6/30, the Leafs have to give permission. Sincethe bulk of the NHL offseason is over by 6/30, the Leafs could be dicks and freeze him out. Kinda like when the Bruins hired Chiarelli and the Senators wouldn't let him start until after 7/1.
I will have to dig for it, but I swear I saw a reputable Twitter account claim that the Big 4 have been assured that they’re sticking around, so it may well be that it wasn’t Dubas that fell so in love with this core that they may have choked out their cap flexibility, but Shannahan/MLSE.
