Author takes readers on Wild ride

THE BOOK REVIEW:

You could say that Tom Lynn began his career in hockey management as a lawyer with the Manhattan firm of Proskauer Rose LLP, which has done a lot of work for the NHL.
That led him into the front office of the expansion Minnesota Wild in April 2000. Between then and the end of the 2008-09 season, his business cards carried such titles as assistant general manager, assistant GM/hockey operations, director of hockey administration and hockey affairs, and acting general manager.
Somehow he found time to write How to Bake an NHL Franchise from Scratch, a book that is subtitled The First Era of the Minnesota Wild.
Firstly, let’s deal with the bad news.
Lynn wrote this 465-page book over an 18-month period, doing it in fits and starts while on airplanes, in airports, in hotels, etc. He wrote it by himself and, admittedly, he isn’t a writer.
Unfortunately, it would appear that he didn’t have an editor, either. The book was published by Starry Night Publishing, a player in the self-publishing industry. A good editor would have pared this book down to about 350 pages by taking out a lot of the repetition. A good editor would have cleaned up a lot of the errant punctuation and spelling mistakes.
For example, goaltender David LeNeveu appears as Leneveu and Le Neveau within the space of two lines. There are other examples, too, such as Dave Tippet (it should be Tippett) and Peter Horacek (it should be Horachek). A good editor also would have discouraged Lynn from his habit of using nicknames throughout, often times referring to Wild GM Doug Risebrough as Riser, forward Andrew Brunette as Bruno and on and on.
Now . . . let’s move on to the good news, and there is far more of that than the other.
In fact, this book should become required reading for anyone interested in the business side of an NHL franchise or in the intricacies involved in putting together a franchise, from the front office to the roster.
Lynn was there from the start and he passes along a whole lot of inside information and anecdotes, covering such things as the building of a new arena, an NHL expansion draft, preparations for the annual NHL entry draft, dealing with player agents, negotiating contracts et al.
Risebrough had his fingers in every aspect of the Wild, including the building of the arena in which it would play. At one point, Risebrough has the architects make the home team’s dressing room smaller than originally designed and the visitor’s room larger. It was done in the interests of camaraderie — Risebrough didn’t want his guys too spread out, while he wanted visiting players to have as much space as possible.
When Risebrough started to move the Wild franchise forward, he had a five-year plan that was predicated on building through the entry draft. It’s interesting how Risebrough worked to make sure the Wild didn’t get ahead of itself and finish too high in the standings, thus moving it down in the entry draft order. It isn’t that the Wild threw games or anything like that; it’s just that Risebrough, who in fairness often was impeded by one of the NHL’s smaller budgets, wasn’t about to sign any free agents who might throw the plan out of whack.
When it came to putting a team together, the first thing the Wild — and the Columbus Blue Jackets, who came into the NHL at the same time — had to deal with was the expansion draft. Risebrough was adamant that he wasn’t going to take on a lot of over-priced contracts that belonged to fringe players. Lynn does a masterful job of detailing how the Wild prepared for this draft and how Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, came up with a rule in the middle of the draft that was aimed at getting the two teams to take on more of the contracts with which they wanted nothing to do.
Lynn also provides great insight into how Doug MacLean, then the Blue Jackets’ general manager, was reluctant to work in tandem with Risebrough going into the expansion draft.
Lynn also takes the reader inside the organization as Jacques Lemaire’s run as the Wild’s head coach comes to an end. It is especially interesting that Risebrough was poised to fire Lemaire during the 2008-09 season, only to get gun shy and let the coach finish the season.
I could go on and on, as Lynn really does shine a light into every corner of the operation. Suffice it to say, a hockey fan can’t go wrong with this book, which is available through amazon.com, either in hard copy or Kindle.
One person who doesn’t get a lot of mention is Lynn’s wife, Leslie. As you read through this book, you will be amazed at what all Lynn had on his plate, all of which resulted in long hours at the office and a lot of time on the road. He and Leslie have six children; she must be a wonderful wife and mother.
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Managing the Wild’s AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, also fell under Lynn’s job description. As a result, he was responsible for the hiring of Kevin Constantine as head coach. WHL fans will find some insight into Constantine in the four-plus pages dedicated to that signing.
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The Wild went through an ownership change after the 2008-09 season. Risebrough was gone and, eventually, so was Lynn. He now is a certified player agent and a principal of Veritas Hockey.

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Thursday . . .

Bruce Hamilton, the president and general manager of the Kelowna Rockets and the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors, has been named Kelowna’s 2010 Business Leader of the Year. . . . He will be honoured at the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award dinner on Oct. 21. . . . Hamilton moved the Rockets to Kelowna from Tacoma in time for the 1995-96 season and the franchise now is one of the best in the 60-team CHL.
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D Josh Caron of the Kamloops Blazers attended the Minnesota Wild’s camp on a free-agent tryout deal and came away with a three-year NHL contract. The Wild announced Thursday that it had signed Caron, 19, who is from Campbell River, B.C. Last season, Caron had six points and 190 penalty minutes. He has returned to the Blazers and will be in their lineup Friday against the visiting Prince George Cougars. . . . The Wild also signed D Colton Jobke, 18, from the Kelowna Rockets, and D Jared Spurgeon, who completed his WHL eligibility with the Spokane Chiefs last season. . . . Jobke had eight assists and 71 penalty minutes in 69 games with Kelowna last season. Like Caron, Jobke was on a free-agent tryout deal with the Wild. . . . Spurgeon had 51 points with the Chiefs. He was a sixth-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2008.
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D Mike Reddington has been named the 19th captain in the history of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He takes over from F Carter Bancks, who has graduated. Reddington was acquired a year ago from the Spokane Chiefs.
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As was reported earlier, G Brandon Anderson of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has signed a three-year contract with the NHL’s Washington Capitals after attending their camp on a free-agent tryout deal. . . . CapGeek.com reports the contract is worth a maximum of US$1.62 million. . . . Anderson, 18, will get $50,000, $55,000 and $60,000 in the AHL over the three seasons, with NHL salaries of $535,000, $560,000 and $525,000. . . . The signing bonus is $35,000 this season and another $35,000 next season.
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You may recall that Kelly McCrimmon, the GM/head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings, got the ol’ heave-ho from a WHL exhibition game last weekend. But, if you’ve been paying attention, his name has yet to show up on the WHL’s list of those who have been disciplined. Well, it turns out he has escaped unscathed. When it was suggested to one WHL official that perhaps McCrimmon hadn’t shown enough “truculence” to warrant discipline, the official replied: “Well, there are different levels. . . .” . . . McCrimmon, who missed the third period of a game with the Moose Jaw Warriors after losing a debate with on-ice officials, apparently didn’t go far enough to get even a fine.
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F Landon Ferraro has been named the captain of the Everett Silvertips. Ferraro was acquired from Red Deer over the offseason; he wore an ‘A’ with the Rebels last season. Ferraro, 19, was a second round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2009 NHL draft and has just returned from their camp. He is the eighth captain in franchise history. . . . Named as alternate captains were D Rasmus Rissanen, 19,  Clayton Cumiskey, 20, F Kellan Tochkin , 19, and D Ryan Murray, 17.
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C Tyler Johnson, 20, is back for a fourth season with the Spokane Chiefs. Johnson, one of the WHL’s top faceoff men, had been in camp with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. He returned with an “upper body injury,” according to the Chiefs, so many not play Saturday when Spokane opens against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash. . . . D Jared Cowen, 19, is the lone Spokane player in an NHL camp. He is with the Ottawa Senators and is expected to start the season there. . . . The Chiefs have assigned G Chris Sharkey and F Skyler Hladun to unnamed junior A teams, leaving their roster at 24, including two goaltenders and 14 forwards. . . . Spokane opens the season with veteran James Reid, 20, and freshman Mac Engel, 17, as its goaltenders. Reid put up a WHL-high 38 victories with a 2.41 GAA and a .920 save percentage last season. Engel was with the midget AAA Red Deer Optimist Chiefs.
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Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that C Jordan Weal should be in the Regina Pats’ lineup when they open Friday in Brandon against the Wheat Kings. Weal has been in camp with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. He had 102 points with the Pats last season. . . . That leaves F Carter Ashton (Tampa Bay Lightning) as the only Regina player still in the NHL.
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The Wheat Kings will open without D Mark Schneider (hip flexor) and RW Jens Meilleur, who will miss up to six weeks with a broken hand. . . . Brandon continues to carry five goaltenders and GM/head coach Kelly McCrimmon hadn’t named a Game 1 starter as of Thursday night.
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D Tyson Barrie is the new captain of the Kelowna Rockets. Barrie led the Rockets in scoring last season, with 72 points. . . . The alternates are D Colton Jobke, 18, D Kevin Smith, 19, and F Evan Bloodoff, 20. . . . Barrie has been out with a partially torn hamstring since Sept. 2 and may not be ready when the Rockets open Saturday against the visiting Prince George Cougars. . . . He succeeds F Lucas Bloodoff as team captain. Bloodoff graduated after last season. . . . The Rockets will be without RW Shane McColgan, who had 69 points as a 16-year-old last season. He had his tonsils out earlier this month and needs more time.
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F Spencer Edwards has been named captain of the Moose Jaw Warriors. Edwards, who turns 20 on Nov. 16, wasn’t even on the team’s 50-player list a year ago. But he earned a spot on the roster and put up 40 points in 72 games. . . . Alternates will be D Collin Bowman, F Quinton Howden, D Kendall McFaull and D Dylan McIlrath.
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The Swift Current Broncos are down to 26 players after re-assigning D Brody Luhning, 18, who played 30 games with them last season, and F Robbie Newton, 16. . . . Luhning had one assists in those 30 games. He was a seventh-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . Newton was acquired last season from the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Both players may join the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars, who hold their junior A rights. . . . Swift Current F Cody Eakin, 19, remains with the NHL’s Washington Capitals, while the Broncos have placed F Dillon Wagner (knee surgery) on injured reserve.
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The Kootenay Ice had assigned G Mackenzie Skapski, 16, to the junior B Ridge Meadow Flames, meaning Brett Teskey, 17, will be the No. 2 goaltender, behind either Todd Matthews, 20, or Nathan Lieuwen, 19. . . . Ice D Brayden McNabb, 19, remains with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. . . . The Ice is down to 25 players (three goaltenders, seven defencemen and 15 forwards). That number includes MacNabb.
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The Tri-City Americans will have an interesting decision(s) on their hands now that the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins have returned Russian G Alex Pechurskiy, 20. He becomes one of four 20-year-olds on their roster, along with D Tyler Schmidt, F Mike Brown and F Kruise Reddick. . . . Pechurskiy is one of two imports on the roster, with D Nikita Kardashev, 18, being the other. However, Russian D Nikita Nesterov, another 2010 import draft selection, is still working to get clearance to play over here.
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The latest players to rejoin WHL teams from NHL camps: F Emerson Etem, to Medicine Hat from Anaheim; D Colton Jobke, to Kelowna from Minnesota; F Tyler Johnson, to Spokane from Minnesota; D Ricard Blidstrand, to Regina from Philadelphia; D Josh Caron, to Kamloops from Minnesota; D Austin Madaisky, to Kamloops from Columbus.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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Caron returns with NHL deal

 By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It’s opening night in the WHL so there were a lot of smiles around the Kamloops Blazers on Thursday.
However, one smile was bigger than all the rest.
Defenceman Josh Caron, 19, arrived back from the camp of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild yesterday and he brought back a three-year contract.
Not bad for someone who missed his 16-year-old season because he twice broke an ankle, has been through two NHL drafts without being selected, and was in the Wild camp on a free-agent tryout deal.
“It was pretty exciting,” Caron said upon arriving at Interior Savings Centre on Thursday afternoon.
Caron, who will be in the lineup tonight when the Blazers open the WHL’s regular season against the visiting Prince George Cougars, joined the Wild’s prospects team for a tournament in Traverse City, Mich., which is where he first started leaving his mark.
“I think I did well in the Traverse City tournament . . . had a few tilts,” he said, adding that his third scrap was against WHL veteran Randy McNaught, now of the Saskatoon Blades. “I fought him in the third scrap. That was good; he’s a tough kid.”
Bob McKenzie of TSN was keeping an eye on proceedings in Traverse City and, at one point, tweeted: “Kamloops D Josh Caron is heavyweight, trying out for MIN. Curious to see if Wild sign. Toughness is duly noted. Takes punches, throws bombs.”
That was pretty much the game plan going into the tournament. Caron said he “wanted to show them I can do it.”
So, he added, “I made some big hits. I played tough. I tried to play on the edge a bit. Obviously, I got in some fights.”
The Wild liked what it saw and invited Caron to main camp.
“That was a great feeling,” Caron said. “I think I did pretty well. I skated well with everyone. Obviously, it’s a lot faster and there’s a lot more skill. But I felt really good. I felt confident with the puck, I felt good with my foot speed.”
Caron, who is from Campbell River, missed all of the 2007-08 season because of the ankle injuries. He began the 2008-09 season with the junior B Storm and joined the Blazers in midseason, finishing with one assist and 50 penalty minutes in 21 games.
Last season, Caron had a goal and four assists, along with 190 penalty minutes, in 60 games. His penalty totals included 20 fighting majors. However, by season’s end, he had become a valuable defender and, because of that, the coaching staff asked him to start picking his spots a little better.
Contract details weren’t released but it’s a safe bet that the deal negotiated by agent Mark MacKay was worth more than Guy Charron’s first contract.
Charron, the Blazers’ head coach, signed with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens during training camp in the fall of 1969.
“I played all 15 exhibition games,” Charron recalled. “The very last day they called me into the office and said I was going to be assigned to the American Hockey Legaue. I was tickled with joy because I thought I was going to be assigned to the East Coast league. I’m not sure I would have had a successful career (in the ECHL) because I wasn’t much of a scrapper.”
At the time, Montreal’s AHL affiliate, the Voyageurs, was stationed in Montreal, so Charron was quite pleased.
“There was no signing bonus or anything,” Charron said, adding that he was told to “be happy with your salary, because we’re giving you more than (Yvan) Cournoyer.”
Charron signed a two-year contract that called for salaries of $6,000 and $7,500 in the AHL and $10,000 and $12,000 in the NHL.
“I asked if I could have a $250 bonus for the last year of junior hockey,” he continued. “If you played for the Jr. Canadiens that was your bonus. I think they must have had a giggle on me for asking for $250.”
But, Charron said, he had an NHL contract and was “tickled to death.”
Just like Caron who, you know, slept with a smile on his face last night.
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Going into tonight’s home-opener, Charron reiterated that he feels “we are headed in the right direction.”
And that, more than anything else, has him excited for this season.
“The biggest thing for me is the excitement about the team,” he said. “My enjoyment is practices. When games come, I get more nervous than anything else about how will the team play or what will the outcome be.
“In practice, it’s total control. I’m in charge. I am on the bench, too, but there’s emotions for the players, there’s the referees, the opposing team. I like the challenge of coaching against good coaches and having a good game plan and being well prepared. I’m excited about that.
“With time and age I’ve learned not to be as nervous as I was in the past.”
JUST NOTES: After Thursday’s practice, Charron said that, barring a change of mind, two players will make their WHL debuts tonight with the Blazers — D Brady Gaudet and F Logan McVeigh, both 16. . . . That means that F Rhyse Dieno, who played 16 games here last season, F Lyndon Martell, who had seven points in the preseason, and F Chase Souto, the ball of energy from Yorba Linda, Calif., will be healthy scratches. . . . D Brandon Underwood (concussion) also will be scratched. . . . D Austin Madaisky was due to arrive back in Kamloops from the camp of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets last night and he will play tonight. . . . Kevin Muench, the WHL’s director of officiating, met with the Kamloops coaches and players after practice yesterday. There was a video presentation on officiating and the rules, with a question-and-answer session. . . . Veteran WHL referee Chris Savage has retired. Savage, who is from Medicine Hat, wants to spend more time with his family. . . . The Wild also signed D Colton Jobke, 18, an undrafted free agent who plays for the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Rockets president/GM Bruce Hamilton, who is the chairman of hte WHL’s board of governors, has been named Kelowna’s 2010 Business Leader of the Year.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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