Payola
Here’s Eric Duhatchek’s take on Brendan Shanahan the new league Vice President of hockey and business development:
What Brendan Shanahan will bring to the mix as the NHL’s new vice president of hockey and business development is a balanced voice, freshly removed from the playing arena, that can address some of the contentious issues floating around the game now – concussions, head shots, injuries of all sorts. Shanahan was both skilled (a 600-goal scorer) and tough (a 2,000-penalty minute man), the only player in history with a foot in both camps. As such, Shanahan should bring a measured response to change – protecting the physical play that makes hockey so appealing, but acting as an advocate for players where protection is needed. Example: Last year, the NHLPA – of which he was a member – voted overwhelmingly to support a rule limiting contact to the head. The league rebuffed the overture. Maybe, with Shanahan in the hen house, it’ll now get a second look.
I don’t buy it. His job is mostly on the business side despite the fact that he is not really qualified for the job. (Even if his new position was on the hockey side, I doubt if he would have the influence to moderate the league position on headshots. The NHLPA was rebuffed because the general managers are afraid ticket sales would be adversely affected if thunderous hits were discouraged. Period.)
“Just after Brendan retired did the league immediately decide they needed help on the business side? Come on. This is a thank you, I suppose, for what he did as a player and at the summit, but there are ten other guys out there that are looking for work and it is a little too suspicious. I hope he does well, this is not against Brendan Shanahan, but it leaves me scratching my head here. Why this position is being created for Brendan Shanahan when there are plenty of other [qualified] guys who can do the same thing? Does Brendan Shanahan have a business degree to help John Collins? That’s a pretty big position to be responsible for. And now he’s going with Bill Daly to negotiate a deal with the KHL? Boy that’s really… he’s a fast learner.” – Mike Milbury
I have not been kind to Mike Milbury on more than one occasion and I’d even concluded that he was a league mouthpiece. Obviously that is incorrect. On this issue Mad Mike is miles offside, but – I think – entirely correct. Shanahan is not remotely qualified for a position on the business side. Maybe he is smart enough, but what did he ever do to earn an apprenticeship at that level?
He isn’t being rewarded for his behaviour during the labour dispute, is he? How many other players had lunch with Gary Bettman during the lockout? It may reek of corruption, but hey, nobody can say that Gary doesn’t take care of his friends.
Thanks for that. I’m fine with agreeing with you… but now that you’ve pointed out that I agree with Mike Milbury, I have this uncontrollable urge to take a shower. Or bathe in sin… either way.
The NHL and the NHLPA consistently remind us that corruption is the name of the game. I’m wondering why Shanahan wasn’t placed as the NHL’s representative at the head of the Players Association. Its pretty clear that the league is going to get what it wants in the next collective bargaining agreement…. why not just put one of Gary’s boys at the head of the NHLPA to grease the wheels? Too obvious? Too soon?
More to the point of this post, ex-players getting front office positions on the business side is a dangerous trend. Luc Robitaille was named as the Kings’ President of Business Operations upon retirement even though he probably doesn’t know the difference between supply and demand. But he had a great snap shot, so he should be able to figure it out, right? Shanahan has shown nothing in his past that tells us that he should be able to deal with the financial duties that come with being on the business side of NHL, yet he’ll have ever opportunity to show us that he can.
In a time that the NHL really needs to be focusing on this business, brand and economic well-being, the league is handing out jobs to the most recognizable names. Maybe they should be hiring the most QUALIFIED names. And they wonder why the league struggles to air more than 6 national games in the States during the regular season. If this were a power play, then of course Shanny would be the right guy for the job. Unfortunately, it isnt…. and I’m not sure he is.
More to the point of this post, ex-players getting front office positions on the business side is a dangerous trend. Luc Robitaille was named as the Kings’ President of Business Operations upon retirement even though he probably doesn’t know the difference between supply and demand.
I don’t have the same problems with Yzerman in Detroit or Robitaille in LA. They did earn their apprenticeship in their local markets and they can (continue to) sell hockey in those markets.
Don’t get me wrong… I have no problem with Robitaille getting a job in the front office. He’s been the face of the franchise for the last 20 years and does a better job selling the Kings than some of the players on the ice! I’m talking about the specific position that he received within the organization. VP of Business Operations is a job for someone with an MBA, not for someone who’s main bullet point on his resume is “Top Scoring Left Winger of All-Time.”
I guess it’s splitting hairs… but still and important difference.
I hear you, but that’s what I meant by apprenticeship. If he is going to end up as a GM or team President, or part of an ownership group, he needs to learn the business side. He already knows how the hockey operation works. Robitaille is a smart guy and he’s an ambitious guy. If he’s a little over his head to start, well that’s the price the Kings pay to keep the face of the franchise around. He plays a key marketing role and, in exchange, he gets to learn the business from the inside.
I think the really important distinctions are that a) Brendan Shanahan isn’t signing on with a team, he’s signing on with the league, and b) he hasn’t earned the right to a job he isn’t qualified to take. Unless, of course, bailing on the NHLPA during the lockout counts for something. I can imagine what some of the players who felt betrayed – Trent Klatt, for example – are thinking about this appointment.
I think by association you’re condemning Brendan Shanahan of corruption in an “ipso facto” sort of way. That’s just rubbish. Too many people bitch and moan that Bettman and his gaggle of idiots have nobody with a recent connection to the game. They hire someone who does – a guy who was entirely respected by all of his peers and out come the knives.
I also think it shows a complete lack of business acumen on the part of the people associating his “title” with the role he’ll be playing. Often times in business, people have titles that don’t reflect their roles directly. He’s VP of HOCKEY and Business Development – considering the NHL is in the business of HOCKEY, perhaps Shanahan’s role is to advise executive management on what’s best for the development of their product. Who cares if he’s going over to Russia as Bill Daly’s bag carrier – maybe part of the agenda is to strangely enough, talk about hockey, a topic which he would be an expert at discussing.
Routinely in business, specialists from the field are promoted to senior executive positions without an MBA or equivalent experience. The reason is, they know the business. It is easy to hire accountants and management suits to explain balance sheets and P&L statements, but go out and try and find experts in the field, that’s tough. It happens routinely in Engineering firms, senior project managers are promoted to run entire divisions, not because they have any special skills in managing a business, but because they know what the business should be doing well and you can surround them with lawyers and bean counters to educate them in other parts of the business.
Take big companies everywhere. Jack Welch was successful at GE because he came from within the business. Apple struggled after Steve Jobs left because they lost their visionary and direction, but once he came back, so did their fortunes. Eric Schmidt who runs Google as Chairman and CEO, is a software guy from back in the day at Sun, his other experience at running a business was Novell when it failed miserably to compete with Microsoft. You can find massive examples everywhere of people who care about the product being put into senior leadership positions despite perhaps not having “business” chops.
Also, as someone who grew up in the Park Lawn/Queensway/Mimico area, Brendan and his family are just awesome people. The idea that his position during the lockout, which he felt was in the best interest of the game somehow has resulted in him getting this backdoor position is insulting. It is cynical and simple. A number of people have found themselves agreeing with Mike Milbury – surely that’s sign number one that you’re going down the wrong path.
Well said, Sean, on every count. It is quite apparent that a lot of people are not familiar with the type of title that Shanahan has been granted. I recognized it for what it was as soon as I read about it (as did you, wuite evidently). It is a “relationship management” type of role – shmoozing, in more common terms.
More to the point, it is a rather outrageous headline posted above, tainted as it is with a patina of alleged “corruption”, although there is not even a scintilla of evidence to that effect and there is not even a connection to be drawn. As if Shanahan is not already wealthy enough and has sufficient fame that he would be swayed by a VP of Shmoozing position, even if that were the intent. Frankly, it is a disgraceful slam against Shanahan that should be retracted by Mr. Benjamin without further ado. Evidently his hatred of Bettman has interfered with his judgment.
having followed the Red Wings & listened to /watched Shanahan over the years, once he took the gig with the Rangers it was blindingly obvious he was planning a post-playing career. (The Wings office was already pretty crowded…) I figured all along he was talking to the league, although I would not have been surprised to see him land with a network, ESPN, or something along those lines.
There is no nefarious plan by the league, only a guy trying to break into the business side.
having followed the Red Wings & listened to /watched Shanahan over the years, once he took the gig with the Rangers it was blindingly obvious he was planning a post-playing career. (The Wings office was already pretty crowded…) I figured all along he was talking to the league
I agree. The question is whether those ambitions influenced the choices he made during the lockout. I think they probably did. He certainly wasn’t damaging his chances for his post-playing career when he met with Bettman and then participated in the small group that turned the NHLPA around on the lockout (and in the process, destroyed it.)
And, as it turned out, it did his post-playing career a great deal of good. I doubt if there was an explicit deal made but it still smells. Do you believe the league would have created this job for Shanahan if he had not betrayed the NHLPA? Why would they do that? Even if the job is really corporate schmoozer and Shanahan is really qualified – I don’t buy it – why him? Why didn’t they create the job for Messier when he retired?
Maybe Messier’s more of a prick? Kidding aside I think the truth’s somewhere in the middle here-Shanahan certainly didn’t hurt his chances with NHL employment with his actions during the lockout. Now if they’d offered Linden a job…
Maybe Messier’s more of a prick? Kidding aside I think the truth’s somewhere in the middle here-Shanahan certainly didn’t hurt his chances with NHL employment with his actions during the lockout. Now if they’d offered Linden a job…
Linden will never get a sniff from anyone. He was – by far – the biggest loser among all the players. Everybody can find a reason to be angry with him. Chelios and Klatt feel betrayed by him because he decided to go along with the small group of stars. The small group of stars are mad because Linden didn’t do it in time to save the season. Everybody blames him for Saskin. Shanahan and the others involved in the coup got the pass, but Linden in a pariah. I don’t think he was ever going to work on the management side. I think his post career plans involved the NHLPA. I doubt if he’ll ever work in the league again.
There was a storyin the papers about him this weekend. To me, it comes across as a little sad.