Fan In Van

NHL Agents Turned GMs

The latest garb coming from The Province indicates that not only Brian Lawton and Rich Winter, but Mike Gillis may be involved in the hunt for the vacant general manager position for the Vancouver Canucks. What do all three of these men have in common? They are all highly regarded and highly respected NHL player agents.

Now why do these player agents have so much respect in the NHL? It may sound like a stupid question at first glance, but what is it that makes them strong candidates over the other guys in the running? Pat Quinn and John Muckler are older then father time and have been in the NHL even longer, while there are guys like Steve Tambellini, Jim Nill looking to achieve their first positions as general manager. Throw into the equation guys like Neil Smith and Doug Armstrong are itching to get back into roles as GMs and you’ve got yourself a huge field of strong candidates.

So why a player agent?

Look at it this way; a player agent’s simple role is to be able to communicate negotiations between a player and the general manager. In other words, they’re the third party. They want to maximize the amount of money they can get for their client while maintaining a strong relationship with the general manager. Think of player agents as lawyers in court hearings; they aim to serve both sides with diligence.

To throw more law terms out there, there is precedent among player agents becoming general managers. Some turned out to be great moves for owners, while some turned into utter disasters.

Mike Barnett - Whoo boy, this was a DisasteR (Capital D, capital R). When Wayne Gretzky retired from hockey and became part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, he looked to none other than his own agent Barnett to become general manager of the Coyotes. And like the current Canuck candidates (Lawton, Winter, Gillis), Barnett had quite a few stud clients. Jagr, Hull, Coffey, Mogilny, Sundin, Thornton and the Sedins, to name a handful. However, Barnett failed miserably, not once taking the Coyotes out of the cellar and into the playoffs. Only now the post-Barnett Coyotes are looking like strong playoff contenders.

Pierre Lacroix - Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque, Adam Foote and Rob Blake. Lacroix’s acquisitions of these four players and more helped the Colorado Avalanche to two Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001. Lacroix was the GM of the Avs from 1994 to 2006 and did not get fired, he stepped down to concentrate on being the team president. Lacroix, a complete opposite to Barnett, represented several prolific players and made the seamless transition from player agent to general manager.

Let’s get back to The Province’s lovefest with Mike Gillis. You know, you can say whatever you want, talk about how this player agent has represented Bure, the Courtnalls and so many other big name players, but the fact is it depends on how well you make the transition from agent to manager. Some will have no problem, whereas others may stumble, fall, and never get back up again. So let me ask another question: Why in the world are the Aqualini’s considering high-risk, high-reward player agents when they can go to some experienced GMs who know how to help build winners?