McGuire has experience in NHL management (Hartford, Ottawa) and coaching (Pittsburgh). He has many close friends among NHL general managers, no small factor in a group that tends to be closed and surprisingly collegial.
In Minny, however, there's no need to sell tickets, as there was in St. Louis when Davidson took over there.
This is a job for a pure hockey man, an executive capable of navigating the salary cap universe and making the Wild into serious contenders. At the same time, there are obvious overlapping qualities between hockey broadcasting and management work that make broadcasters appealing.
In some ways, the two lines of work are nearly incestuous, as seen in recent weeks with John Tortorella and Tom Renney essentially switching roles.
Tortorella took over from Renney as head coach of the Rangers, and then Renney smoothly slid into the TSN analyst chair that Tortorella left vacant.
Whether it's a GM or head coach, the job of selling the program to the public is a big part of the job, as Brian Burke – another executive who has moved back and forth between management and TV work – has demonstrated in Toronto.
Fletcher, who was briefly a GM with Florida, deserves a full-time shot. Quinn has been on the sidelines since being dumped by Toronto. Sheehy is a former NHL player well-known in the Twin Cities, and if the Lawton-Gillis model is the current trend, he might have the inside track. Ferguson, meanwhile, was widely trashed in these parts for his work with the Leafs, but Minnesota sought permission to talk to him about their GM opening.
It will be a fascinating choice. Picking a front man for an NHL team has never been quite so complicated.
So let me get this straight. We wouldn't get our GM then until the end of the Finals then, no? That would also mean that getting a HC would take another 3 or 4 weeks to sign. That leaves how many more weeks before free agency? Not to mention the draft.
