Thursday, April 19, 2007

Reaper’s Post season, spring cleaning list


With the playoffs winding along towards their eventual date with destiny with Stanley, the also rans are beginning to get the brooms out and sweep those unwanted management bodies out of the house.

Here's the tally thus far, of job openings and job seekers out on the NHL and international market.

MAY 29--The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to fine tune their list, whittling it down to five potential General Managers, with talk that they may have an announcement by Friday.
MAY 29--Mike Milbury has resigned his position as senior vice president of sports properties, but will remain with the Islanders as an advisor to owner Charles Wang.
MAY 29--The Phoenix Coyotes reached across North America to bring Don Maloney to the desert as the new GM of the underperforming squad.
APRIL 19—With Atlanta providing little in the way of a fight on the way to a 4-0 sweep by the Rangers, the Dallas Stars fighting amongst themselves as they head to Vancouver and Nashville struggling once again in their series with the Sharks, we suspect that the list of job seekers is about to increase very shortly. Stand by for more resumes and highlight reels…

APRIL 18—Doug MacLean’s’ six years of overseeing the Blue Jacket empire came to an end, as majority owner John H. McConnell held a lengthy post mortem of the season at an exclusive golf course in Columbus. At the end of the day, even the prospect of having to pay MacLean 1 and a half million dollars didn’t sway the executive jury from issuing their sentence of expulsion and asking MacLean to turn in his Blue Jacket and key to the executive washroom.

APRIL 11—Two days before Friday the 13th, Jason swept through the executive offices of the Phoenix Coyotes and upon the completion of his mission, only Wayne Gretzky (who had the benefit or burden of part ownership we guess) was left as a recognizable name in the Dog house. Let go were Gretzky confidant and Coyote GM Mike Barnett, assistant GM Laurence Gilman and Cliff Fletcher, senior executive vice-president of hockey operations. As well the day before the management team was dismissed, assistant coach Barry Smith made sure his passport was up to date and packed his parachute accepting a position to coach in Russia.

APRIL 2, 2007—Even before the season came to an end, Lou Lamoriello decided to get a head start on his spring cleaning. In a move that surprised everyone but the players on the bench, Lou advised Claude Julien that his services were no longer required with the Devils. Lamoriello took over the team himself, currently piloting them to what is now a best of three showdown with Tampa Bay.

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