Just got back from a quick trip to Detroit. In reading the two local dailies it was hard to get beyond the scandal that is the mayoral situation there. The Lions and Tigers (and beard oh my) were on the front cover of the sports pages. The Tigers for trading Pudge, the Lions as they start training camp. The Wings were buried later in the paper as the news of Scotty’s departure was discussed. One paper explained the move as one out of compassion. Scotty’s son, who works for the Blackhawks is unwell and the article urged fans to view the move as exemplary, a father wanting to live and work closer to his ailing son.

On the 4 hour drive back to the big smoke, it occurred to me that as teams around the NHL try to follow the Red Wings front office model how difficult it will be to accomplish that. It was hard not to find it a tad ironic when i read John MacKinnon’s article in the National Post:

“By design or not, the Oilers front-office begins to resemble the gold standard, that of the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

In Detroit, single owner Mike Ilitch has an all-star hockey department, led by GM Ken Holland, assistant GM Jim Nill, vice-president and GM-in-training Steve Yzerman, with longtime hockey man Jim Devellano in the mix as senior vice-president.”

As the Oilers add Steve Tambellini as GM and move Kevin Lowe to the President’s office it will be very interesting to watch this from a far. The Red Wings model, in my opinion will be very difficult to replicate. You had a very experienced senior adviser in Scotty Bowman, the ex coach. You also have the very senior ex Jimmy Devilano, who has been there for decades. You then have Ken Holland the GM and Jill Nill his assistant. Lastly you have Steve Yzerman the face of the franchise for the last couple of decades as a newly groomed exec. What all of these guys have in common is longevity with the Red Wings.

it won’t be hard for the Oilers, the Leafs or anyone else for that matter, to add in layers of experience in building a hockey department in attempt to replicate the Red Wing model. It will be very difficult to replicate its functionality because of the lack of synergies and years of working together. It wasn’t so long ago that the Leafs had Mike Smith, Ken Dryden and Pat Quinn as an executive team. We all know how well that worked. The solution is not just putting together a list of guys with experience. Rather it is putting together a TEAM that can and will work together. That is not easy to do. Detroit works because, with the exception of Yzerman, who played his entire career for the DRW, all of the guys have worked together forever too. Holland as a scout, Scotty (even though he is gone) as a coach, Jimmy D as a life long exec and so on.

Keep in mind that the Wings haven’t always been the success that they are today. There were some pretty dark years there to. When Illitch first bought the team times were pretty lean. In the early 90’s before becoming hockeytown, they lost in the playoffs to the Leafs and the Sharks in playoff disapointments. However, by putting the right pieces in place, and building a foundation they became the definitive model for the rest to try to replicate.

This is not going to be easy given all the different egos, as you try to build the foundation. Kudos to the Oilers new owner for trying. Hopefully the Leafs too will get there. For neither team will it come easy.

First of, let me say that it is fantastic to have McCowan back. Man the drive home on the Fan 590 is pretty week without him. Having said that, I am continually disappointed with the his choice of a co-pilot, specifically Jim Kelly. McCowan has followed Carson in his choice of sidekicks. Kelly ads about as much value to the show as McMahon did to the Tonight Show.

Kelly is an improvement over Cox, who was just so freaking negative (much like McCowan). Stephen Brunt is good when he is on, but they ramble so much about nothing its hard to listen. Kelly is pretty brutal. With the exception of kissing McCowan’s butt, which he does at least 10-20 times per show, he ads no value. You don’t miss him when he isn’t there and you never think to yourself, hmmm, I wonder what Jim Kelly would say about this (which I do sometimes think about Brunt)

I will say that I did like Doug MacLean when he was on last week. I thought he was balanced, didn’t kiss too much ass and brought good insight. The only time I thought he was off base was when he opined that Roy Halladay shouldn’t have told the media that he wants to win, and that playing for the jays was a little like groundhog day, instead Halladay should have gone to JP or Godfrey… MacLean’s GM insight is great, we don’t get that type of insight down the dial at 640 form Watters, but in this case he was bitching for the sake of bitching. Halladay said that which we want every athlete to say, I want to win….wouldn’t it have been nice for the Muskoka 6 to have had that opinion?

Come on Bobcat, you can do better then Kelly, get a quality co-host on a regular basis…