If you’re a Pens fan, let me sum up the past two weeks of hockey action for you — it sucked. Well, not that action itself sucked, as the Blackhawks and Kings battled to a Game 7, in what was nothing short of an amazing series. But it sucked from the vantage point that as a Pens fan, you had to watch four teams battle it out for a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, while your favorite team was stuck at home on the couch.
Despite the lack of on-ice action for the Pens, there’s been a plethora of action off of it, as general manager Ray Shero was let go, and head coach Dan Bylsma could soon join him, depending on what the new GM wants to do with him.
A week-and-a-half ago, Pierre McGuire’s name was thrown out there as a potential candidate for the vacant GM position. At first, it seemed like a joke, but over the weekend, multiple reports said that McGuire was back in town for a second interview. He confirmed the reports himself on Tuesday morning, saying that he was indeed in the running for the position.
Pops bag of popcorn, watches Twitter explode
Yes, that’s exactly what I’ve done all morning, and really since it was made known he was an actual candidate. As you can imagine, the feedback has been negative. People hate Pierre McGuire. The thing is, people hate Pierre McGuire the announcer, and they might even hate Pierre McGuire the person — although I find that hard to believe. The thing I want to know is why people hate the idea of McGuire as a general manager? For about 10 days now, I’ve searched and searched for a legitimate reason as to why someone thinks he would be bad. The closest I’ve found is that he’s an “egomaniac” and “he lacks the experience.”
Sure, a GM would have to be able to converse with agents and other front-office personnel, but who exactly is saying McGuire couldn’t do that? As far as the experience goes, he was an assistant coach of the Penguins, assistant scout and was an assistant GM of the Hartford Whalers.
By no means am I saying that McGuire is 100 percent the right guy for the job, and by no means am I saying I know hockey inside and out, but if he didn’t have Cy thrown out for calling him by his legal name (Regis) and have his on-air persona, would anyone really fell different about him than another candidate?
He knows the history of the game, more about junior hockey and its players than anyone I’ve heard before and has connections all over the league. Does this make him the runaway favorite? Not at all, but it’s not a bad place to start.
For now, the entire city is on #PierreWatch and while confirming that he is in the running probably didn’t make the bosses happy, I’m hoping that Pierre to the Pens actually happens — if for nothing else, my entertainment purposes. That is, until someone provides me with a legitimate reason that it’s a bad idea.
