Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
There isn't that much difference except for PR. The original ownership group was loved in the city, both for bringing the team in and for their other contributions to the community. But they had no idea at all how to hire hockey management people. Cliff Fletcher came with the team from Atlanta; after that they gave the GM's job to Risebrough, Coates, and Button, and the president's job to Bill Hay and then Ron Bremner. Of those five men, the only one who had any business being in an NHL front office was Coates – and he was hired by Fletcher.
The pool of prospective NHL managers is tiny compared to most industries, top candidates rarely become available – and neither Hotchkiss's group of owners nor Edwards' group have any idea how to hire somebody for that job.
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Hotchkiss and Edwards are pretty much the same except for image. Hotchkiss did just as many extortion-like threats to move the team etc. He was just marketed better. And there’s considerable time when they were both there that Edwards was in charge but Hotchkiss was still nominally the head. As for being respected in the league, IIRC Edwards is way up high in the Board of Governors. Like Vice Chair (under Jacobs).