President of Hockey Ops
Brian Burke- a highly respected individual in the hockey world, tons of experience. Went through a lot of awful years with questionable moves, but also did a lot of fleecing and great draft splashes. From some of his bigger blunders and sometimes speaking without a filter, I'm glad he isn't the GM and taking more of a background role, in his role with his experience, it will be an asset for sure.
General Manager
Brad Treliving- Young but smart. Got to see how to run things in Phoenix, and he did a decent job there with limited resources. Excited to see what he can do with more resources. Great that he will be "mentored" (for lack of a better word) by Burke. Will have to see what happens this upcoming year but if Burke and Treliving have chemistry along with Conroy and Pascall, this could turn out to be golden.
Assistant GM
Craig Conroy- has went through the Feaster era, where we made some great draft picks, but also made a lot of embarrassing blunders. That must've been a great experience for Conroy but the fact that Burke kept him after firing Feaster and Weisbrod shows that he is well liked and shows promise. Excited to see him take on a larger role and continued to be groomed for even larger roles in the future.
Brad Pascall- Can't say I know much about him but he definitely seems very well connected (many hires seem to be made from his connections) and has more experience than Conroy. Never hurts to add another hockey mind into management to refine things.
Head of Scouting
Tod Button- Under Feaster's draft philosophy he seemed to have made some great picks. He's survived so many regime changes and none had a problem with him, so he must be well liked. Excited to see this upcoming draft.
NHL Coach
Bob Hartley- Despite what some people wrote above, I love him right now and don't want to see him replaced at all. If he coaches the way he coached last year, I'd be happy with him long after our rebuild and into our Stanley Cup runs. Even though Feaster finally admitted we were in rebuilding mode, our team still bought into Hartley's system and tried their best. Even the media took notice. That's huge because Hartley is instilling a culture into the younger prospects minds while they are still mentally and physically malleable. So in the future whether or not Hartley is the head coach, our players were taught to have a winning mentality, the Flames stole many games just through pure effort alone. I love how even though we were no longer contenders, we crushed the playoff hopes of so many teams, it felt pretty good. Unlike the Oilers who seem to be fine with losing. The problem with Oilers isn't really talent (well maybe that too) but moreso that their players seem to be content with coasting through games with their 6x6 special that was basically handed to them like candy. Many Oilers fans are happy with T. Hall's passion but that's because he seems to be the only guy on the team who cares. We have 5 of those at all times on the ice. LA Kings is a great example of how mentality and passion triumphs over talent almost every time (though LA Kings roster is still pretty talented. I wouldn't have anyone else be the head influence on our roster right now.
AHL Coach
Ryan Huska- Amazing record with the Rockets. With so many offers on the table for him he chose an AHL position over an NHL one. This shows that he was using his head, he took a position that is a bit lower but seems to have more potential. That sounds like a smart guy to me. I like what I hear from Kelowna fans.
Obviously I'm super excited before we've even played one game, I'm usually more of a wait and see type of person but it's not hard to see with our management group and coaches, there's a ton of potential.
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