Gaglardi looks down Blazers' road

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Tom Gaglardi, the president and majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, says
the franchise will model itself after the Vancouver Giants, who are the
defending Memorial Cup champions.
“The model we’re going to have is full separation between business and
hockey,” Gaglardi explained Wednesday. “It’s the Giants model, the way the
Giants run their club. I believe that’s the best thing for our ownership.”
Gaglardi, a Vancouver-based businessman, will head up the organization, with
the other four owners — ex-Blazers players Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark
Recchi and Darryl Sydor — being involved on the hockey side.
“The model would be that the head of hockey reports to me and the head of
business reports to me, as well,” Gaglardi said a couple of hours before the
Blazers took to the ice in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series with
the Tri-City Americans. “These will be people with full autonomy and full
responsibility. I won’ t be active day to day but I will be there for those
people. I envision talking to them on most days but the decisions will be
made here.”
Gaglardi orginally had planned on hiring a president and having that person
oversee the entire operation. He has since changed his mind.
“To put a president in place (and be) responsible for hockey won’t work for
our ownership group because our ownership group wants to have a direct line
with the hockey GM,” Gaglardi explained. “That’s where they can really add
the most value.
“(Business) isn’t their expertise. They certainly will be here to help sell
tickets, to promote, make appearances and things. They want be be involved
in mentoring the players and summer workouts. . . .”
Gaglardi presently is focused on the business side of the operation.
“It’s time to restructure things here,” he said. “People are going to be
taking different roles. It could be that on the business side we don’t bring
anybody new in. It could be just a total shift.
“I think we have good people here and we can do the job with them with some
restructuring.”
Gaglardi went so far as to state the head of the business side may already
be working here.
“It could be internal,” Gaglardi said. “I don’t know if that’s the way it’s
going to be but I could see it happening. There’s some pretty capable people
here.”
While change occurs in the office, Gaglardi and the other owners are
prepared to hire a general manager, but they have to wait.
“I’m tied up right now waiting for teams to be knocked out so I can talk to
the guys we want to talk to,” Gaglardi said. “Our ownership has a very short
list of guys and there’s a guy at the top of the list we want to talk to.”
That person is believed to be Craig Bonner, a former Blazers defenceman and
assistant coach, who now is the Giants’ assistant GM/assistant coach.
“Once I get the GM put in place I’m out of hockey,” Gaglardi said. “The GM
will assess the coaching department and the scouting department. We are
going to build from the top down.”
Gaglardi also said that interim head coach Greg Hawgood and Shane Zulyniak,
the assistant GM/assistant coach, “will be with this organization next
season. They may be in different roles but they will be in the
organization.”
Hawgood and Zulyniak both are under contract for next season.
“Both of those guys are welcome to interview for the head-coaching
position,” Gaglardi said, adding that part-time assistant Steve Gainey and
goaltending coach Steve Passmore also are likely to return.
“I don’t think there’s any question that Gainey is back; I think it’s likely
that Passmore’s back,” Gaglardi said. “But those no longer will be my
decisions.”
Throughout a 30-minute conversation, Gaglardi stressed that this ownership
group is determined to change the culture here.
“This organization hasn’t sold . . . ever,” he said. “It never sold. We
could sell you tickets if you called us, but other than that . . .
“This isn’t one year. What you’ve seen happen on the ice and what you’ve
seen happen with attendance has nothing to do with this season. It’s the
last nine seasons.
“And this season has done nothing to turn it around.”
But fans shouldn’t expect a whole lot of change in terms of the game-night
package.
“We’re going to fix our hockey program,” Gaglardi said. “Everybody says your
intermission package, your entertainment value. . . . I heard that when I
got here and I have really studied it hard. I’ve now been to nine other
arenas this season . . . I don’t see anybody outdoing us.
“It’s about eighth on my list of things to do.”
However, the Blazers have ordered a giant slingshot and a set of giant
bowling pins that will be part of next season’s package.
“You’re not going to win every year . . . but as a Kamloops Blazers fan,”
Gaglardi stated, “you should expect the team to come out and play hard. We
haven’t done that this season. That’s all hockey program and culture . . .
that’s all it is.
“This Blazers organization has accepted mediocrity. The message Kamloops
needs to understand is that these five owners won’t accept it anymore. It’s
not going to be tolerated.
“It wasn’t tolerated when they were players; it won’t be tolerated here.”

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca