Neil Smith and Rangers exec Gorton-FLA GM job(Updated-Smith will be FLA GM)
It looks like the sale of the Panthers is close.
Two finalists for the GM job have Rangers connections.Smith and Rangers assistant director of player personnel Jeff Gorton.
It appears Smith is the guy because of his relationship with the potential owner.Bill Torrey is running the search and he drafted and gave Smith his first job in hockey.
Quote:
If Murstein comes in to run the team, I would think Randy Sexton staying on as general manager is probably unlikely (yes, I wrote today I thought he was keeping the job).
Murstein is reportedly close to former New York Rangers/Islanders GM Neil Smith, who I have been told is one of a handful of finalists for the job as it stands today.
The other finalists for the GM job: Sexton, Doug Reisbrough, Doug MacLean and Jeff Gorton.
neil deserves a job as a gm in this league no matter what people may think of him. he constructed a cup winner, and was always a class act when it came to respecting the Ranger oganization and representing it. after the debacle on the island i hope he is given his chance.
neil deserves a job as a gm in this league no matter what people may think of him. he constructed a cup winner, and was always a class act when it came to respecting the Ranger oganization and representing it. after the debacle on the island i hope he is given his chance.
Exactly......For the shortime he was the islanders GM, he actually made some decent signings for them
Exactly......For the shortime he was the islanders GM, he actually made some decent signings for them
Tom Poti,Brendan Witt and Mike Sillinger.
Smith signed Poti to a 1 year deal. The other two received multiyear deals.Sillinger had an execllent 06-07 season. Witt hasn't been very effective the last two seasons due to injuries and he doesn't really fit Gordon's system. All three players were key performers to that 06-07 team which made the playoffs and lost to Buffalo.
So many guys get third and fourth chances and Smith never got a second chance. You can't count his month stint with Long Island. Bryan Murray must have pictures of NHL owners playing footsy with Larry Craig in airport restrooms. Washington,Detroit,Florida,Anaheim and Ottawa.
Smith shares some of the blame for what happened on LI.He knew commander Wang wanted a co-op front office where the janitor has a say in personnel. Smith balked and wanted to make changes which didn't fit into Wang's vision of team management. Wang is a joke.
On the sidenote to this, I hope Gorton doesn't leave the Rangers...yet.
I think he's been very instrumental in the Rangers' approach to the last 2 drafts & scouting in general. I know Gordie Clark gets much-deserved credit but so should this guy.
Well he helped put together the Oilers dynasty back in the day.
But he didn't bring in the two by far most important parts: Gretzky and Messier.
He had one outstanding draft year in Edmonton where I believe he got Coffey, Kurri and Fuhr. Aside from that his work there was every bit as poor as it has been here.
He is the ultimate step-in-***** guy who has managed to translate his non-resume into a great and thoroughly undeserved reputation.
But he didn't bring in the two by far most important parts: Gretzky and Messier.
He had one outstanding draft year in Edmonton where I believe he got Coffey, Kurri and Fuhr. Aside from that his work there was every bit as poor as it has been here.
He is the ultimate step-in-***** guy who has managed to translate his non-resume into a great and thoroughly undeserved reputation.
Agree 100% Chosen. However, Sather did draft Messier, along with Lowe and Anderson in 79 and followed it up in 80 with Coffey, Kurri and Moog (Podubny RIP). In 81 he drafted Fuhr. After that, Omar Minaya could have picked as well as Sather.
My fingers are crossed for Neil Smith here. The NHL is a better place with him in it! He is aggressive, he takes risks, and that is something that seems to be missing from the current crop of GM's out there.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Neil Smith at Messier Induction. Total class act. At the time, the Hall of Fame was buzzing that weekend with hockey personanell, and alot of the talk was Neil possibly taking over the reigns as new Maple Leaf GM. Of course that didn't happen back then. Hopefully this time around it does.
Would like to see Smith, but, the hiring of Gorton would allow for a New York-Florida player highway akin to the one that currently connects us to Phoenix.
I'd like to see Smith get another shot, but I would not get him back here, even if it meant Sather was finally shown the door.
My opinion of the last few years of Smith's tenure has changed. I used to think that he really wanted to rebuild in the end while ownership forced him into assembling veteran teams. I thought that if Smith were allowed to run the team his way, we might have some top-notch homegrown players in their primes to complement Lundqvist. And Smith might even still be GM if the team showed signs of turning around after a few years. But now I look back at those late 90s draft, when Smith was supposedly focusing on scouting and development, and they are absolutely terrible. I know that the mid to late 90s were bad drafts in general, but Smith's record is atrocious. 97-99 drafts produced 4 players that are still in the NHL (Lundmark, Malhotra, Labarbera, and Mottau), and they are all depth players.
neil deserves a job as a gm in this league no matter what people may think of him. he constructed a cup winner, and was always a class act when it came to respecting the Ranger oganization and representing it. after the debacle on the island i hope he is given his chance.
I'm a huge Neil Smith critic, though I'd agree with you on everything after "cup winner" as I think Messier and Keenan constructed that, but don't wish to get into that debate. Give Smith a chance in Florida, he deserves it. I truly believe the debacle on the Island happened because he had the integrity to disagree with the idea of building a losing team.
Still don't know if the NHL's Board of Governors will be looking at the potential sale of the Panthers or not, but whatever goes down apparently won't happen for a few more months.
Would like to see Smith, but, the hiring of Gorton would allow for a New York-Florida player highway akin to the one that currently connects us to Phoenix.
On the sidenote to this, I hope Gorton doesn't leave the Rangers...yet.
I think he's been very instrumental in the Rangers' approach to the last 2 drafts & scouting in general. I know Gordie Clark gets much-deserved credit but so should this guy.
Bruins' fans will have you believe that Chiarelli was doing everything, even though he wasn't legally allowed to, and maybe there's some truth to that.
But in the few months that Gorton was the Bruins' GM, he got them Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard, Tuukka Rask, Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic & Brad Marchand (and Paul Mara & Petr Tenkrat).
Maybe Chia was pulling the strings, but I know he wasn't at the draft table and the 2006 draft produced the Bruins' 2 1st line wingers and one of their best forward prospects.
Agree 100% Chosen. However, Sather did draft Messier, along with Lowe and Anderson in 79 and followed it up in 80 with Coffey, Kurri and Moog (Podubny RIP). In 81 he drafted Fuhr. After that, Omar Minaya could have picked as well as Sather.
