[browna]

I don't think Nicholson, on a hockey operational level, is any sort of coup.

Sure, given the political nature of his previous position, he got to meet and deal with most hockey bigwigs and has a lot of friends and contacts as a result as a "neutral" party. His name is familiar and comfortable, and that, with the stability it implies alone is probably his selling point.

Not all presidents have to be of same ilk...guys like Davidson are former players and have an overall feel for the game and like to be hands on with the hockey side. Guys like King and Laforge etc, on the other hand, have local business ties. But Nicholson's body of work was for a self sustaning-type organization, with different priorities than a multi-million dollar, up and down business and retaining season tickets in the Lower Mainland.

Nicholson is a familiar name, but given his actual duties and the role/mandate of Hockey Canada (growing the game at grass roots, raising money and awareness for Hockey Canada etc), how that translates into the completely different environment of taking over the controls of running a day to day NHL team, and as a business, is a bit of a mystery to me.

So, Nicholson as President
Linden as GM
Feaster as Assistant GM to Linden, used as a pawn/go between between Linden and Torts, and providing the GM expertise to Linden?