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THN.com Blog: When will a European join the NHL's brain trust?

Jari Kurri is a European who would add unique insight into the issues the NHL faces. (Photo by Mathias Renner/WCOH via Getty Images)

Adam Proteau
2008-03-26 13:02:57

• Thanks to my wonderful friends (and Gary Green) at XM Radio’s NHL Home Ice channel, here’s a 10-minute audio clip of Ducks GM Brian Burke discussing my column from last week that proposed term limits for the NHL’s chief disciplinarian post currently held by Colin Campbell.

Burke clearly didn’t support the article, and it isn’t the first time we’ve ever disagreed on an issue. I respect his position, but I will say that nowhere in the column did I suggest a non-hockey person assume Campbell’s disciplinarian post whenever he decides to leave the job.

In fact, you could easily slot in a senior figure from the Canadian or American national hockey programs – or the International Ice Hockey Federation – for the position. And in doing so, you’d bring aboard an expert on the game unburdened by the appearance of belonging to (or aspiring to belong to) an old boys’ network.

And that brings me to a question I haven’t heard asked very often: When exactly are we going to see a non-North American hired as a top-level NHL official? Considering the league has employed Europeans as players for some 30 years now, you think it’d be high time somebody – maybe Jari Kurri, maybe Slava Fetisov – scored a prime spot in its management structure.

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Perhaps that’s just pie-in-the-sky thinking. After all, the NHL has only had two European head coaches in its entire history, and we’re still waiting to see its first-ever European GM. Seems like there’s some representational balance that’s needed throughout the league, wouldn’t you say?

Adam Proteau is The Hockey News' online columnist and a regular contributor to THN.com. His blog appears Mondays and Wednesdays, his Ask Adam feature appears Tuesdays and Fridays, and his column, Screen Shots, appears Thursdays.

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COMMENTS (9)

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alex Posted
(2009-04-30 06:17:20)

Adam, I am so happy that you have taken up this cause. Thirty years from now, you will be seen as a visionary (and those, like a certain hockey night in Canada talking head, will be seen as even more backward). I am die hard hockey fan. I am American. One thing my American friends cannot understand about hockey is the Canadian boys club element. It turns them off of hockey. As Americans, we abide by our Constitution, which offers equal protection to everyone regardless of race, creed, religion or nationality/alienage. Say what you will about America's checkered past on these subjects, but I know discrimination when I see it. It boggles me that major public (mostly canadian) figures openly discriminate against Europeans. In America, you simply can't go on the air and say "Europeans are worse at {fill in attribute here}." Yet, in Canada, you cannot go 10 minutes into playoff coverage without hearing something about soft Europeans or the fact that a team with too many Europeans can't win the cup. Though it does not quite rise to the level of racism, this easily rises to the level of discriminatory statement. If Detroit wins the cup this year, and people can no longer say that a Euro-captained team has never won the cup, what will they say? How will they find a way to defame a nationality, indeed an entire continent, then?

Matt Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:22)

Anders Hedberg was ALMOST the GM of the Leafs. He still could be the first Euro GM in the NHL.

jan ludvig Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:22)

Adam, your heart is bleeding again. I don't see anyone from the Russian Elite, British Elite, Czech, German, Italian or Austrian leagues sobbing over a lack of North American brass. Our players have been playing over there for years. Go get your dual citizenship so you can vote for Hillery too, you'll feel better.

Antoine Desormes Jr. Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:22)

Adam, you hit the nail on the head. Until the status quo is willing to change, this will continue to be an issue.

wtf Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:21)

Sounding a bit doncherryish there Adam. Not good to generalize.

Terry Tyo Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:16)

Yes

Steve Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:15)

Since I didn't make any generalization, it can't be that big. I said that NHL ownership might be reticent to name Europeans as coaches, GMs, etc. because both precedents were abject failures. That doesn't mean Europeans can't coach or GM NHL hockey teams successfully (though many of the best candidates end up running their native country's national programs). It means they are unlikely to be hired for such positions. In the near future, if a European is to be promoted to hockey management, they will have worked themselves up through the organization as did the Blues Head Scout (or Andersson, who is another likely candidate). Then again, who is to say either of them wants a GM job?

Nathan Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:13)

Steve, that's a pretty big generalization there. If you want to name a European scout that has actually had his suggested draft picks pan out at the highest level, look no further than Detroit's Hakan Andersson. He's the little-known, but truthfully biggest reason Detroit has kept it up in the cap world. Holland is good, but Andersson makes it easy for him finding so many good players late in drafts. And, with all due respect to Hlinka, there are some great European hockey minds that far surpass him. Igor Larionov is one that Adam doesn't mention that also has a lot of merit, either as a coach or a front-office guy.

Steve Posted
(2009-04-30 06:07:13)

You neglect to mention that there have only been two European coaches because both were disasters. Ivan Hlinka, in particular, used to stand outside Mellon Arena chain-smoking, for the duration of every intermission, rather than formulating a strategy or rallying the team. If there will be a European executive any time soon, it will probably be that Head Scout from the Blues, and then, only if a good number of his (sometimes curious) draft picks pan out.