It was to remember these games when we’re at the draft. In the playoffs, we made a note after one of the games. When drafting Tom Wilson in 2012, it led to McPhee putting out this piece so rich, you thought Captain Obvious was a real human being: It was things like this that produced such blunders like the 2010 trade deadline, the lost assets from poorly evaluating Trevor Linden, Scott Hannan, Martin Erat and Jaroslav Halak and multiple coaching hires that led to plenty of disconnect between head coach and GM. Especially in the latter stages of his tenure, McPhee’s interviews were censored so much that it seemed like the CIA was less cryptic. It’s been evident multiple times now that McPhee was portrayed as a bully who thought his way was the correct way to operate a team, no matter if others told him otherwise. Clearly, what will be most important about the Brian MacLellan era is how different he is to George McPhee. That circumstance is when the franchises that hired them were in turmoil and praying that their owner can look for a major upgrade from the previous regime. However, Nonis and Snow were the only ones hired in the same circumstance MacLellan had. Yes, it was quite odd that the Capitals went in house for a General Manager, but General Managers Bob Murray, Stan Bowman, Greg Sherman, Bryan Murray, Dave Nonis, Garth Snow and Ron Hextall were hired in the exact same fashion. To me uptempo means that you want be able to break out of your own zone effectively, make good decisions through the neutral zone, and get it to the other end you can create some offense. You can’t play uptempo if you don’t have the puck. You can’t play uptempo if you can’t break out of your own zone effectively. One of the things people think is defense is just backing up. During the press conference, Trotz made it clear that his defensive style isn’t so much about dropping back and shot blocking, but more about having a structure to gain possession of the puck and make good use of it. Remember, this is the same material Mike Rizzo put out during his introductory interviews as the GM for the Washington Nationals. Yes, both men have stated that the eye test has to be used when evaluating players, but this is the same for every modern day front office in sports, let alone hockey. Even Barry Trotz agrees that advanced stats can not be ignored in evaluating the talent of a hockey team as his former team hired Eric Tulsky as a consultant in the final years of his tenure. It is great to see his legacy live on by having current GMs read and appreciate his work). What stands out the most to me is that since MacLellan came from the land of economics and making money, that lead to one important trait he will bring as general manager: ADVANCED STATS!!! Leonsis came out in the press conference and mentioned how MacLellan referenced JLiken’s piece about scorekeeping biases in NHL arenas (sadly, news came out last weekend that JLikens, the online alias of Tore Martin Purdy, passed away on April 15th at age 28. Obviously, every media member has been going gaga about how MacLellan told Ted Leonsis what he needed to do to be a better owner during his interviews. Afterwards, McPhee would hire MacLellan on his team as a scout from 2000-2003, director of pro player personnel during the 2003-04 season and then Assistant General Manager. MacLellan would then receive his Master’s in finance from the University of Minnesota and spend the earlier years of his post-playing career trading stocks. MacLellan was a former player with 606 career games, a Stanley Cup Ring from the 1989 Calgary Flames and a hockey-reference profile with comparisons to modern day players such as Matt Stajan and Pascal Dupuis. Trotz spent the last 15 years coaching the Nashville Predators where he worked under former Caps GM David Poile (it’s those connections again!!!). Even with these friendships and experiences, that is not to ignore Trotz’s or MacLellan’s credentials. Trotz was the former head coach of the AHL Baltimore Skipjacks in the early 1990s while MacLellan was George McPhee’s sidekick/lackey in the front office and BFF from their days at Bowling Green in the early 1980s. Those connections helped bring Barry Trotz and Brian MacLellan to Washington as Head Coach and General Manager, respectively. Yes “connections” is a phrase that makes you sound like a pompous little so-and-so, but really it’s about the people you have met throughout your lifetime and hoping that through your friendships, they will help you along the way. When looking for a job, one source that helps you along the way is your connections.
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