About a month ago, I praised The Creator for hiring Misha Donskov. A young analytics wizard that built a database of player metadata. The hire seemed very progressive, however, at 39, Donskov still remains one of the youngest staff members in the hockey front office.
George McPhee, the GM, is 58. His assistant, Kelly McCrimmon is 55. Senior advisor, David Conte? 68. Dave Prior, 60. Vaughn Karpan, 55. Vojtech Kucera, 50. The youngest of the high ranking bunch are Scott Luce, 47 and Wil Nichol, 43. Pretty much every scout pushes 50 as well. Based off my fuzzy math, the average age of the front office is close to 55-years-old. I know it’s not Statler and Waldorf’s age, but 55-year-old scouts have a system. A system that’s disciplined, organized, and experienced.
Meanwhile, just down the road, Arizona hired a 26-year-old John Chayka to take over the Coyotes front office. The young GM has been compared to the Chicago Cub’s Theo Epstein and his data-oriented decisions. I thought Las Vegas would’ve leaned more towards Chayka’s model. Older GM’s and scouts have blueprints that already work for them.
Do I worry about the age of the staff? Sadly, I do. I was hoping for a more diverse cabinet like the Coyotes, Canes, and Panthers. It’s tough for an experienced evaluator to change a successful method. I can’t blame them, it’s gotten them to where they are in the NHL today. However, The Creator could address experience and progression with a few younger staff members. I believe in harmony between analytics and true scouting. Call me a schmuck, I don’t care. Unfortunately for some, guys like Chayka are encroaching on the NHL world. If Vegas hires more young schmucks, the balance could help the club’s future.
Cappy
Old? Wow….
Let me get my cane so I can knock this cheeky young whippersnapper over the head! Take that as the threat it’s meant to be, you… you… you… you young rascal!
This isn’t just an idle threat from a feeble resident of an old folks’ home, either, kid! Me and my geriatric gang of old codgers are fired up, and we’re gonna teach you a lesson you’ll never forget, punk, and we’ll do it just as soon as we can haul our feeble old bodies out of the wheelchairs to which which we are bound, due to our advanced ages, and grab our catheters and oxygen tanks, so you better watch out young fella, I’m warning you!!!!
Now, if only the MVA hadn’t taken away my license, and my family hadn’t taken away my car because they all think I’m too old to be driving…..
Guess we’ll just have to shanghai that young kid who drives us to and from our appointments with our geriatricians, with the funeral home directors, and with the cemetery staff to pick out our burial plots, as well as to and from the 4:00 Early Bird buffet specials.
Good grief…. You’re not hoping to gain any kind of favoritism from those Depends-wearing, wrinkled old geezers living on Geritol, Ben-Gay, and bran muffins, who are populating the front office, are you?
Print out what you wrote and stash it in a drawer for ten years. Pull it out on your birthday, read it, then cringe after reading the inane statement you wrote at the top. Stick it back in the drawer to pull out on your birthday ten years later. It is at that point in your life when you can go ahead and tear it up because you’re really ashamed of yourself for making such a stupid, ageist statement.
p.s. There are a lot of people living in that area who are even older than those relics in the Vegas team’s front office. How do those ancients manage to survive, being so old they’ve lost their minds and can no longer function?
Jason
They’ve all lost their minds Cappy!
James
@Jason Pothier
‘I believe in harmony between analytics and true scouting.’
I agree with you. I believe that analytics is another string in the bow. But I’m not concerned because George McPhee’s teams in Washington controlled play outshooting its opposition. One of the better teams when it came to analytics
James
George McPhee was on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer the other day and said he is an advocate of analytics, but admitted he didn’t use them enough in Washington. He learnt from his years with the New York Islanders. McPhee, Kelly McCrimmon and Misha Donskov are going to discuss hiring an analytics company for the Las Vegas team. There are 3 analytics companies to choose from.