Hours that GMs work and rules of contact

[spuzzum]

I had a topic with buddies tonight that no one could definitely answer about the logistics of General Managers contacting each other and their working hours. I've seen how trade confirmation calls are made with the NHL at the very end but everything up to agreement is also interesting.

1. Do GMs contact each other directly via cell for trade discussions or is there an official protocol like via a secretary?

2. Would they send a trade proposal via email?

3. What general hours would they contact each other? For example, imagine LA needs to make an immediate acceptance on a trade with NYR because they have cap issues and have another pending trade with Edmonton. Say it's 9pm PST making it midnight on the east coast. Would the teams just phone each other and hope someone answers?

I know this isn't exactly rocket science but I thought the nuances of 30 bosses running teams worth hundreds of millions of dollars and how they communicate was rather interesting.

[Coach]

I imagine each of the GMs have numbers for multiple team officials in each other team. My guess is they mostly correspond through email outside of busy days like deadline and the draft, or when there's a big name on the market. A guy like Treliving or Burke probably works from 6 am 8-10 pm during the season.

I don't think there's be that many wake up calls. For any deadlines, all the GMs would be up and working.

[Trojan97]

I'd imagine the hours for GMs on the west coast are probably pretty brutal. You'd have to be up extremely early to keep up with business in the east and then be up through the conclusion of your own teams games.

[FBI]

I choose to believe it's like brad Pitt in moneyball.

[underGRADFlame]

they use MSN Messenger... and ICQ as a backup.

[Da_Chief]

Skype in Edmonton.

[Erick Estrada]

There's lots of tire kicking going on all season and I expect, phone, text, email, etc all comes in to play at various times of the year but serious talks are likely on conference calls. Also it depends on how close the GM's are with each other as you can imagine dealing with someone you know really well as opposed to someone you don't really know would be handled totally different.

[Robbob]

At a STH meeting Treliving mentioned he was an early riser, up around five or six. I would love to find or go through a gm cell phone to see who they keep in contact with and their text conversations. I would image any trade talks that are serious would be on a phone as they have to be able to conference in with the nhl to finalize things.

[sureLoss]

[Jason14h]

So no one actually knows !

[Incogneto]

I would love to see the group chat transcript on Skype between all 30 GMs.
Shanny: Who wants Kessel?
Murray: Lol. Good luckz.
Armstrong: I've got a waterbottle, and a 7th rounder for him.
Slats: OMG, really Shanny? Nonis tried this ##### last year too! That contract is something I would have signed in 2003!
Benning: har har har.
Bowman: The Stanley Cup Champs will trade Patrick Sharp for all your assetts!
Rutherford: Lemme think on that, Stan!

[united]

According to what some say in the trade speculation thread, GMs must spend the majority of every day "laughing and hanging up immediately".

[bc-chris]

i talked with a friend of mine about this a while back (he's an ex-pro)

from his understanding, the gm's have a "forum" where they can "post" stuff like 'looking for a second line right winger', player 'x' is available - to let the other gm's know what they are looking for and who they are willing to trade. stuff like that to get the ball rolling on discussions.

that kind of system makes sense - it beats each gm calling the other 29 every morning to see if there is anything new to chat about

i wonder if they have a funny pic thread? i bet the leafs & oil gm's wouldn't go in there very often!

[FlamesAddiction]

I think assistant GMs and other staff probably do more of the first contact and negotiating than people realize, through advisement of the GM of course.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Oh no.

The robot is developing a sense of humor and a personality.

It is the beginning of the end.

[Major Major]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i talked with a friend of mine about this a while back (he's an ex-pro)

from his understanding, the gm's have a "forum" where they can "post" stuff like 'looking for a second line right winger', player 'x' is available - to let the other gm's know what they are looking for and who they are willing to trade. stuff like that to get the ball rolling on discussions.

that kind of system makes sense - it beats each gm calling the other 29 every morning to see if there is anything new to chat about

i wonder if they have a funny pic thread? i bet the leafs & oil gm's wouldn't go in there very often!

If this forum exists, it must be hackable. I don't hack personally, but I imagine that someone here does. Get hacking!

[CroFlames]

LOL an off topic forum for GMs.

What would you be if you weren't a GM?

Post of Pic of your owner's yacht

Who's rink has the best free food in the press boxes?

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Major Major

If this forum exists, it must be hackable. I don't hack personally, but I imagine that someone here does. Get hacking!

This was my first thought as well. That seems like a dangerous way to do business, if that was ever compromised it'd be disaster.

[Phanuthier]

Somewhat on topic, but I remember a Elliot Friedman statement saying that Treliving wants all NHL trades to go through him, and a trade doesn't happen without going through him. I wonder what that would be like over the phone.

[polak]

A forum or chat would make sense. It's not that crazy, or "hackable".

Lots of companies have sharepoint and intranet. I'm sure a billion dollar a year in revenue company like the NHL can afford it.

I'm also sure the GM doesn't just deal with trades and personnel or there wouldn't be much to do most of the year. There are probably lots of hockey ops that goes on that we don't even know about.