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Originally Posted by FAN
What you said illustrates my point. The "GM" title in the NHL carries traditional and customary duties. Those duties include the authority to make hockey operations decisions such as who to sign and making trades. Of course there may be some oversight by someone higher up when it involves committing large dollars or trading franchise players, but GMs are expected to be given the authority to build the team that they see fit. Burke himself has been outspoken about GMs being allowed to manage without much interference. A GM without those traditional duties are GM in name only and could easily hold the title of assistant general manager.
The fact is Burke wanted the GM job. He agreed to take on this role but never for a second was he taking this job without the authority that customarily came with the GM title. A GM who has to run everything through Burke and isn't given the authority to make decisions on his own or given much in the way of deference is essentially a puppet because the GM isn't free to do what he wants to do but have to talk with Burke and reach a consensus. There's a difference between saying "Brian I'm going to take this deal" and "Brian there's this offer that came in and I think it's really good..."
I think the GM opening in Calgary is "in title only" because there is every indication to suggest that the incoming GM will not have the traditional and customary decision-making authority of a GM. If Burke is making all the decisions and the GM is really just doing the "grunt work" involved with the GM job, then the GM is in title only and a puppet because the GM is merely following directions to do things that GMs traditionally and customarily had the authority to do. Not sure why that is so hard to understand.
This has been quoted earlier "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.”
Explain to me how a guy fresh out of his uniform is a competent, qualified candidate with the best skill set and the right expertise to fill the role of the GM? I'm not saying the guy can't be competent and have a good skill set but explain to me how someone fresh out of the uniform would be "qualified" have the "right expertise?"
I've said this when Burke got hired. You can easily name Burke GM and Feaster AGM and it would have made no difference except in title only.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FAN
Okay then should GMs never be blamed for poor drafting or poor drafting past the first round if the GM merely deferred to his scouts? Do the Calgary Flames have the type of scouting staff that should be given full authority to decide on their own who to draft? If not, you want someone setting directions for the scouting staff as the draft will impact the future of the franchise.
I never got the Weisbrod firing. Weisbrod's expertise was in scouting and selecting kids at the draft. He could have been repositioned if the new GM didn't like him. There must have been a conspiracy theory somewhere.  That or Burke thinks the last couple of drafts under Feaster and Weisbrod were crap. |
Interesting long winded response. Basically what it seems like you're saying is that the GM is going to be a puppet because you've misinterpreted things that have been said and come to conclusions that are yours and yours alone.
All those words, and I still have no idea how you decided that the GM isn't going to be allowed to make his own decisions.
Nor do I even partially understand how you came to the conclusion that Burke simply wants the GM job and has all along. Though, I suspect that one is simply the result of the extra layer of foil you put on your hat this morning.