They’re already doing things a little differently in Seattle and it’s amazing to see.
Months after naming Alexandra Mandrycky as director of hockey administration, Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato was among the expansion team’s five first pro scouts announced Wednesday.
She’s the only female pro scout in the NHL.
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The NHL has been an old boys’ club for a long time. Some teams have begun to change that. The Toronto Maple Leafs, for instance, have amateur scout Noelle Needham and assistant director of player development Hayley Wickenseiser on staff.
Seattle doesn’t play a game for two years but is intent on making sure its staff will represent the values the organization wants to prioritize.
“It was really exciting and interesting for me when I went through the (GM) interview process here just to hear what they wanted to do and how they wanted to be unique in their approach,” Seattle GM Ron Francis told The Athletic. “It was very important that they were going to be a very diverse organization and hire good people.’’
So as Francis set out to begin the process of filling out his own front office, with more hires to come over the next year or so, his first five pro scouts included Granato.
“People have to understand, I’m not hiring Cammi Granato because she’s female, I’m hiring Cammi Granato because of her résumé,” Francis said. “She was a U.S. Olympian, she won a gold and silver medal, she’s inducted into the Hockey of Hall Fame, you know, she knows hockey. I think she’s extremely qualified.’’
But for so many years, that “qualified” résumé would have been passed over because she didn’t play in the NHL. Or because, frankly, she was a woman.
This is still a league where women and people of colour are under-represented in impactful positions, but there are signs that’s changing. At least we hope.
That’s the mantra in Seattle, anyway. According to Katie Townsend, vice-president, corporate communications for the Seattle team: “Over 50 percent of our VPs are female. Across total staff 21 percent are people of color.’’ That’s out of 60 or so total staff members.
“Diversity is one of our greatest opportunities,” said Seattle CEO and team president Tod Leiweke. “Commissioner Bettman has led the way with the hiring of Kim Davis and we have fully embraced the goal of building one of the most diverse organizations in sports. It is not only the right thing to do, but it will make us better.’’
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Francis had an “in’’ in terms of reaching out to Granato. Just so happens he was teammates with her husband, Ray Ferraro, my colleague at TSN and one of the game’s best color commentators.
“I think she’s had opportunities in the past but the timing was right here. We couldn’t be happier to have her part of our staff,’’ Francis said.
Cammi Granato, right, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Mandrycky, meanwhile, who spent four seasons with the Minnesota Wild as hockey operations analyst, was actually hired a few weeks before Francis, her input a factor as far as Francis getting the GM job.
Given Mandrycky’s background in analytics, it also clearly tells you that expansion Seattle will be prioritizing that field in assembling its first-ever roster. Which marries well with Francis’ hockey philosophy, the Hockey Hall of Famer was one of the first GMs in the league to embrace analytics during his time running Carolina, hiring current Hurricanes executive Eric Tulsky, analytics guru.
I think what you’ll see in Seattle between Francis and assistant GM Rick Olczyk is a marriage of analytics with the old eye test. Which is the way it should be.
“The eye test and analytics, for me, it’s always about a balance and check,” Francis said. “I might watch something and think I see something and then I look at numbers and it might be different; I either have to go back and look at it more closely or it confirms what I saw. I don’t trust my eyes 100 percent and I don’t trust the numbers 100 percent.
“But I think there’s a way to merge the two to hopefully get to the right answer.’’
There will be more analytic hires over the next year, and more hires in general. Not surprisingly, just like George McPhee got inundated with résumés when he built the Vegas Golden Knights front office, Francis has been a popular guy since being announced as Seattle GM in July.
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“It started right away with texts and phone calls and emails and résumés,” Francis said. “I think I stopped counting when we crossed over 300. It takes a lot of time reading résumés and making calls and checking on individuals. It’s a good process to go through.’’
Because puck drop isn’t until the fall of 2021, there has to be a patient approach to the hires.
“Not starting for two years, we’re not going to hire a bunch of people right now,” Francis said. “We got the people we felt we needed to get in place to help start the process and try to be mindful of the fact we don’t have income coming in for two years and handle it as wisely as we can.’’
The organization on the hockey side no doubt will mirror Francis’ personality, a player and executive that has always exuded class and humility.
“The cool part about this is that you get to establish the culture, right? We’re trying to build something that everybody who works for us feels important, feels like they have a voice,” said Francis. “We want to hire people that are not just good at what they do, but are good people. We want to have people who understand it’s not about me, it’s about we, you walk through the door here and want to do everything that’s right for the organization. I think that’s exciting to be able to do that.’’
The Vegas comparisons will be never-ending. Francis is ready for that. The standard is ridiculous, the Golden Knights went to the Stanley Cup final in their first season, McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon cleverly exploiting the expansion draft process for all it was and building a contender right out of the gates.
“There’s no denying the job George and Kelly did in Vegas, it was outstanding,” Francis said.
What’s interesting is how different in some ways the two journeys will be. McPhee was hired just over a year before puck drop. Francis gets to come in more than two years away from the first game. On the flip side, this time other teams around the league will be better prepared.
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“Vegas had a shorter runway, but I think the other GMs had a shorter runway, too, in terms of preparation,” Francis said. “We start two years out, GMs already know what the rules are and what’s coming and when it’s coming. I think they’re already preparing for that maybe in a different way than they did the last time.’’
Francis has already had a few chats with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly about the expansion process.
“We’ve had some conversations with Bill and the league about different aspects,” Francis said. “It’s interesting in this one that Vegas doesn’t participate, they don’t lose a player. I know last time being in the Carolina chair, there was a lot of concern making sure that teams weren’t trying to circumvent the expansion process, park players or do little side deals to do that. The league is going to be looking closely at that. We’ve been assured of that.’’
As I wrote last year, Vegas has an opportunity to wreak havoc a bit with Seattle’s expansion process, perhaps exploring other teams’ roster vulnerabilities ahead of the expansion draft to make its own side deals. Which, well, Seattle is fully aware of already.
Francis broke into a little laugh before that question was fully out of my mouth.
“Yeah I know, I think everybody is aware of that,’’ chuckled Francis.
As for the kind of team Francis hopes to ice in two years, look no further than his patient rebuild in Carolina before he got fired, his imprints still on some of the roster that made it to the Eastern Conference final last spring.
“My guys worked hard in Carolina, we kind of built it from the ground up,” Francis said. “I remember talking to Kenny Holland about that and he said it’s usually a five to seven-year project. We were in Year 4 and I thought we were real close.
“You could see we were just on the verge and we were doing it with a low (payroll) number and that’s what we were handed. So I think a lot of that style of play is a lot of how I like to see the game played, and hopefully we can find players to sort of emulate that fast-pace, competitive style that they have in Carolina.’’
I just can’t wait to see this team assembled.
(Top photo: Ted S. Warren / The Associated Press)
Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun
