[Ring of Fire]

Here's an outside the box GM candidate: Chris Pronger

He has a background with Burke and values the type of hockey Burke likes. He's a young smart hockey mind and a winner that Burke could mentor in the role.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=686848
"Chris is one of the smartest guys in hockey I know," Holmgren told Campbell. "He has a real grasp of the game and a real understanding of his position and everybody else's position on the ice. He's like Tom Brady as a player. He just knows that much about what's going on."

http://www.cbc.ca/sports-content/hoc...ck-around.html

'Highs and lows'

In the meantime, Pronger will continue to work for the Flyers as a roving scout. He has watched, live or on video, the pro game for the Flyers as well as junior and United States collegiate games, too. He sits in management meetings. Why not tap the same smarts Pronger exhibited on the ice and in the dressing room, in the boardroom?

There is no doubt, if he chooses, Pronger can follow the path of superstars-turned-team-executives in the NHL like Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Cam Neely and Rob Blake. But he has time to find his way.

I know he is still under contract but his playing days are over. Since he is under contract with the Flyers we'd have to trade for him (which as far as I know there is no rule against trading for an injured player. If I recall correctly, Burke traded for an injured Kolzig's contract while he was with the Leafs). The contract has 3 years left with a cap-hit of just under 5. If the contract stayed the cost would be 4 million, $575 000 and $575 000 for the next three years and the Flames could still place Pronger on LTIR (the Flames would then be paying his player contract for him to perform GM duties). If the Flames had Pronger retire officially the cap hit would stay (which could be helpful to hit the floor rather than overpaying/getting bad players on bad contracts). All that being said, Pronger may still not be recovered enough from his concussions for the GM responsibility but I thought it would be an interesting idea as Burke said his role as President of Hockey Operations would potentially make it a good set up for a rookie GM or former player stepping into a GM role. It would also make sense as an off-season hiring rather than during the season.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...ticle15915915/

Burke indicated he would be fine hiring “either a young guy with great promise and maybe some experience, or just a young star that hasn’t been given a chance. That’s the beauty of this management structure – you could literally take a guy out of uniform if you believed in him and turn him loose, and he could avoid those big mistakes that young GMs make.”