Anaheim, Calif. – Even if the mission were to discover dirt or provide a forum for ax-grinding, it would be difficult – perhaps impossible – to get anyone in the NHL to say anything bad about Francois Giguere.
The Avalanche’s new general manager, the assistant GM to Dallas’ Doug Armstrong since early 2002, truly is well-liked.
His hiring comes during a wave of other promotions in the past couple of weeks, with longtime assistant GMs finally getting the chance to move up.
Ray Shero, the son of legendary Flyers coach Fred Shero and the assistant GM at Nashville, was hired to succeed the fired Craig Patrick at Pittsburgh. At Nashville, he worked under the respected David Poile, who was doing a terrific job with limited resources long before the implementation of the salary cap.
Also, Peter Chiarelli, a former Harvard hockey captain and one-time player agent who has been the assistant GM at Ottawa for the past two years, was hired to return to Boston as the Bruins’ GM. Shero also interviewed for that job and was considered the front-runner, but the specter of questions about interference from above – including from president Harry Sinden and executive vice president Charlie Jacobs – apparently made him a bit skittish.
The postseason exception to the trend was the hiring of former Sharks GM Dean Lombardi to the same job with the Kings. He took over for the fired Dave Taylor and then oversaw the hiring of Marc Crawford as the Kings’ coach. And that all came after Kings CEO Tim Leiweke announced he was stepping away from the day-to-day operation of the franchise, a move that was interpreted as a means of promising prospective GMs that they would have more power.
I wrote about this before Giguere’s hiring was announced, and these are the issues that aren’t going to go away:
Will the former Avalanche assistant GM, who was best known during his stint at Colorado as a number cruncher and behind- the-scenes detail man (not that there’s anything wrong with that), have the power and clout to make his new title more than a cosmetic honorarium? Will Pierre Lacroix, who will remain president after relinquishing the GM title and announcing his intention to slow down but remain involved, still be the GM in most ways? Will the new chain of command, however it works out, be effective? Or will a fogginess about who is in charge cause problems?
Lacroix is offended when those issues are brought up. I have no doubt he believes he will allow Giguere the authority to be an effective GM and a credible voice in dealing with other GMs and agents.
I have no doubt Lacroix believes he can be the bridge between Giguere and owner Stan Kroenke, and allow Giguere – in consultation with the hockey staff that includes Michel Goulet, Craig Billington, Brad Smith and the three coaches – to avoid being hamstrung by the perception that Giguere doesn’t have enough power to call the shots.
To me, those are more significant issues than the question of whether a former accountant and controller can oversee evaluations or make intuitive judgments about player personnel or prospective trades. Giguere’s intellect and likability aren’t in question. He passes those tests as easily as he did the CPA exams.
It all sounded feasible at the news conference, in part because Lacroix was correct when he pointed out that even he didn’t have “hockey guy” credentials when he switched from being a player agent to the GM side of the table with Quebec in 1994. And even at the news conference at which Lacroix announced he was stepping back, he was candid that the job description for GM candidates involved being able to live with Lacroix being around – and that all but meant high-profile former GMs such as Patrick and Neil Smith wouldn’t enter the picture.
And Patrick Roy – the coach- GM of major junior’s Quebec Remparts, who play the Moncton Wildcats for the Memorial Cup championship today – would have been a logical choice, but it would have been a working apprenticeship with Lacroix around to consult.
Giguere as GM looks functional on paper, with Giguere in essence being inserted in ladder of command a notch below Lacroix.
But will it work?
To be fair, we don’t know.
One way it could is if Lacroix finds himself unable to step back, and it becomes obvious to everyone in the league that he still is operating as the GM and the man to call, but that would require undercutting his own hand-picked successor.
It also could work well if Lacroix truly steps back and the well-liked Giguere is an effective manager, delegator of authority, sounding board and decisive decision-maker.
Yet if the working model turns out to a confusing, who’s-the-boss mess, it could be a disaster.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
