Louis Blues in the 8th round of the NHL Entry Draft in 1974 but failed to impress the Blues in a tryout in the training camp and joined the UPEI Panthers in the AUAA. As a 20-year old he was drafted by the St. In 1972-73 he was with the Montreal Red, White & Blue and had 1 assist in 16 games. He joined the Montreal Junior Canadians in 1971-72 and played in 31 games compiling 5 goals and 5 assists for 10 points. MacLean grew up in Summerside (born April 12, 1954), no doubt spending hours on the ice at Cahill Stadium. No candy coating, just the plain truth as he sees it. His honesty also reflected the kind of man he has always been in hockey. As a coach and general manager, he was always prepared and well planned along with having a positive personality and some Island wit to go along with it. In any case, Doug MacLean became one of the best hockey analysts on Sportsnet in Canada. His point was the increasing number for sports talk shows on radio and TV that allowed listeners to air their opinions on each team’s players and management which he believed was increasing the anxiety for many a coach who was on the hot seat during a long and often a losing season. It was MacLean who once offered, “Sports talks shows are coach killers.” He made that remark in the mid-1990’s when he was behind the bench with the Florida Panthers. MacLean made the deal because he had already made deals to have Ron Tugnutt and Marc Denis as his goalies.īrian Burke was general manager in Vancouver back then, and MacLean remembers Burke jokingly telling him that he would give him the secret to success.Doug MacLean has done it all in hockey and at all levels.įrom a player to a coach, general manager, team president, owner and TV analyst and radio talk show host. He drafted Geoff Sanderson, who scored 30 goals in Columbus' first season.īut he remembers taking Jan Caloun and picks from the San Jose Sharks in order to not draft Evgeni Nabokov. He remembers making some good deals, such as getting a second-round pick from the Montreal Canadiens for not taking Eric Weinrich. MacLean laughs at the memories of general managers telling him they would "do him a favour down the road" if he would give them a break during the expansion process." His advice to McPhee? "Really be tough on deals," he said. "(McPhee) is in a better situation where he can cut better deals because there are better players available." "There was not much available to us, and we made soft deals," MacLean said. To fill the Golden Knights' roster, teams could only protect seven forwards, three defencemen and one goalie or eight defencemen or forwards and one goalie. The Golden Knights paid $500 million to enter, and their expansion draft scenario is more favourable. He drafted a free agent or European prospect and simply didn't sign them. MacLean remembers there were several teams that offered no one he wanted. In the last expansion, when the Wild and Blue Jackets entered the NHL for $80 million, teams could protect most of their important players. MacLean said if he had it to do over, "I would be much different cutting deals." One rumour: If Brent Burns hadn't re-signed in San Jose, the Golden Knights were going to make him an offer he could not have refused. The Golden Knights are also expected to make a run at some higher-priced free agents, such as T.J. Today, McPhee needs to consider available expensive players such as goalie Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.75 million), defenceman Toby Enstrom ($5.75 million) James Neal ($5 million) and Paul Martin ($4.85 million). Expansion general managers were looking for less expensive players. When the NHL expanded from 26 to 30 teams from 1998 to 2000, there was no salary cap for the Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Minnesota Wild and Blue Jackets. "(GM George McPhee) has to have some higher priced players to get there." "It's going to be better team just because the floor of the salary cap is $55 million," MacLean said. MacLean tells the story to explain how different the expansion team building process is today with the Vegas Golden Knights compared to the way it was the last time the NHL expanded. "And we played the Red Wings eight times," MacLean said. When Doug MacLean was general manager of the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets in 2000-01, his payroll was $18 million and the Detroit Red Wings' was $55 million.
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