[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

This move is what it is. I'm neither upset or happy.

Ward was a good person, always great for a quote, loved working with the media and his players admired him. He put countless hours into his trade. He'd arrive at the arena at 4am to begin cutting up video and prepping for the day's lesson. On weekends, he'd stay at the arena after the game until the wee hours of the morning doing video work for the next morning. Sometimes he wouldn't go home. Say what you want about him, but no one worked harder than him. Period.

He was often unjustly criticized for not having developed any NHLers. However, when he finally got quality prospects under his tutorship, look what happened. Ortio, Wotherspoon, Granlund, Reinhart, Knight, Hanowski all with NHL playing time. I think it's fair to say at least four of those kids looked good at the NHL level. He was also responsible for Brodie, Bouma and Byron. Some may argue Brodie was the byproduct of Playfair, but Brodie himself said he didn't understand what Playfair was trying to team him, so Ward would have to explain it.

With that said, I think there was some difference of opinion in the direction of the organization with the new change in management. Therefore, it's best for everyone to be on the same page. Burke is, Treliving and his assistants are, Hartley is, I don't think Ward was - but he complied. So I think it's for the best if the organization is running like a well oiled machine, especially at such an important rebuilding juncture.

I wish Ward nothing but the best. I have no doubt he'll have no problem finding work. I thank him for all he's done with the prospects this season. Because of his body of work, there's finally some glimmer of hope for the future.