WHO WILL BE THE COLUMBUS BLUE JACKET’S NEXT GM? #nhl #cbj #nhldraft #columbusbluejackets #laine

WHO WILL BE THE COLUMBUS BLUE JACKET’S NEXT GM? #nhl #cbj #nhldraft #columbusbluejackets #laine

there’s about six weeks left until the NHL draft and free agency period begins yet Columbus Blue Jackets Bost John Davidson still does not have a general manager in place so today we are going to give you the 411 on JD CBJ GM search hey everybody Welcome in clear the bench is your One-Stop shop for daily fresh hockey content if you go ahead and hit your subscribe button right now every single day we’ll bring you in a new hockey video to enjoy the clock is definitely ticking for JD however I don’t personally think this is going to force his hand to hire a GM just to run this year’s draft uh he’s looking for a GM uh to take this team into the future somebody to get the train back on the tracks get him back in the playoffs uh and get him you know to be Stanley Cup contenders that’s what this is all about so uh as far as if he had to make the selections himself at this year’s draft I could definitely see him being very comfortable in that probably wouldn’t be very happy about it he’d rather have his uh guy in place but when he was with the New York Rangers him and Jeff Gorton pretty much made all of their draft picks together so again I could see JD being very comfortable if he had to now when I look around on the internet and I see some of the names that keep popping up as far as potential GMS for Columbus goes there’s one in particular uh that personally I would stay away from at all costs and I’m talking about Mark bersan uh up in Montreal between 2012 and 2021 he he was horrible with their first round picks Alex galeno never turned out to be the Superstar they thought he would look how it ended up in Arizona uh Michael McCarron I think he’s a fourth liner for the Nashville Predators Nikita sherback never heard of him uh Noah yolon heard of him but not much uh Ryan paling in the Philadelphia Flyers 216 Games took him in the first round he’s got 64 points and is a minus 35 in his career not the numbers you wanted when you drafted him uh when they finally got to a guy that they drafted that was good M sergachev what do they do they trade him to Tampa Bay for all people in the world you trade them for Jonathan drwan didn’t work out so well with drwan and Montreal they moved on from him um and then another bonehead move he made to the draft he passed on Brady kachuk For yper Cami who’s now like a third liner down for the hurricanes in Carolina while kachuk is the Captain up in Ottawa so as far as Mark bersan goes and I see his name coming up in GM rumors I just I just throw that on the backfire uh so as far as the moves that he made while he was in Montreal that were good he had two in my opinion one he drafted Cole Coffield and two he traded for Nick Suzuki from Vegas uh otherwise I just think he was a train wreck and then it even gets better for him so he leaves Montreal and then the LA Kings hire him and his job title is special advisor to the general manager pretty much your job is to run into the room and say no no no no no don’t do that or yes yes yes yes yes that’s a good move so when Rob Blake and Luke robai thought it would be a good idea to trade for none other than Pierre Luke Dubois did ban run in the room and say don’t do it you’re crazy nope he went along with it so so that’s enough stink on berson for me berson for me I don’t want any part of them now another guy and these next two guys I think are both going to be GMS in the NHL uh the first guy may be sooner than the next guy but I’m talking the first guy and Ryan Hardy Ryan Hardy right now is the um he is the Marley’s GM in Toronto and he is also the assistant to the general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs uh in 2021 Toronto thought so much of Ryan Hardy that they said here we want you to oversee our entire minor league system uh I think he’s done a very good job with that and the reason they had the confidence in him to do that was prior to hiring him in Toronto he was with the Chicago steel he was their GM in the USHL if you are a draft goober you know all oh my goodness Chicago has just become you know just a machine in terms of churning out big name guys uh I’m talking about some guys on that team like Owen power uh Matt Coronado in Calgary Josh Joan uh for Utah Arizona and Sam Lipkin who’s also going to be playing in the NHL I believe this year macki samis kevich uh was on that team 2021 they won the Clark Cup as usl’s best team and Ryan Hardy was name the USHL GM of the year so uh if I were JD he would be on my short list of guys and then the next guy and this is going to be a little outside the box Kevin weeks yes that Kevin weeks the television Kevin weeks that we all see when I’m looking for a GM the first question I’m asking is this guy playing the NHL does he know the process has he been behind the curtain does he see how this really really works or you know is he some on the outside who’s only heard about it but he hasn’t experienced it himself I want a guy who’s been through that now uh if I had to pick between Ryan Hardy and Kevin weeks that is a tough one but either way I could see both of these guys being successful um when I look at Kevin weeks he was in the National Hockey League 12 years 348 games Jersey he backed up Marty bror Hall of Famer New York Rangers he backed up Henrik Lundquist a Hall of Famer you are just so looking in knowledge of the game while you’re on the bench watching these guys and again I always think goalies have a better perspective of the game than everybody else because everything is coming at you I like to sit behind the goal at a game I like to see the play develop when you’re sitting uh along the sides you know between the blue lines I don’t know you can see it but in my opinion you just don’t see it as clearly and goalies everything is coming directly at them so they have a very very good understanding of systems uh they know you know what plays work what plays don’t work skill sets what skill sets you need in players to be successful and I think a guy like Kevin weeks uh he’s been in the media since 2009 he’s worked everywhere he’s worked at ESPN the NHL Network Hockey Night in Canada his job affords him to be able to talk to everybody he’s talking to all 32 coaches he’s talking to all 32 GMS you know looks like you know on the internet you look at a lot of list you know available potential GMS and a lot of them have like these data backgrounds uh you know or this guy was a finance here that’s great you need those people working in your front office but do they know what a hockey player looks like and are you really going to let that person make your first round selections I don’t think so uh or any selections at all I just don’t think so and again you want hockey people Ryan Hardy this guy knows what a hockey player looks like from a mile away so does Kevin weeks and for people sit here and say oh Kevin weeks he has no NHL experience guess who else had no uh front office NHL experience went straight from you know a broadcaster to being a GM Keith Jones Philadelphia Flyers looks like it’s working out pretty well for them in Philly uh another guy who had zero NHL ties when the New Jersey Devils hired him back in 1987 Lou larell pretty sure you heard of old Lou the guy had success he’s won cups in the NHL and again when the Devils hired him in 1987 he was the coach and the athletic director at Providence College back then uh Providence was one of the first NCAA teams to start to really uh put players into the systems that were going to become good Pros uh it’s not like it is today with you know Michigan Ohio State Denver Michigan State it’s just not like you know it’s like that now but back in the day everybody went to Juniors kids did not go to college oh and one other thing about L larella while he was the athletic director at Providence he hired basketball coach Rick patino uh but again Lou larell had zero experience NHL you know and Kevin weeks like I said he’s there every day nothing goes on in the NHL that guy doesn’t know about um again he looks at these players all day long I’m pretty sure he has a pretty good idea what a kid looks like now and a guy is going to look like in the future and especially goalies they always have to project six seven eight years down the line you know you’re drafting these kids when they’re 18 years old and a lot of goenda for themselves until they’re you know 25 years old uh you know Arthur she loves and me my opinion is on The Fast Track he’s only 23 uh I see guys that usually you know it’s closer to like 25 years old uh when they start making a name for themselves but Kevin weeks he’s around everybody he watches all the games he talks to everybody he’s only 49 years old he’s very very likable and there’s another thing about him there’s only about 20 people in North America that have his credentials as both being an NHL player and having worked in the media you know for a good chunk of time talking about people like Craig Simpson Louie de Brusque Mark Messier uh Greg Millan Gary gy Darren Pang uh Bill Reed I’m sorry Bill Lindsay Dave Reid Brian englum Stu Grimson all of these guys played in the NHL so when you see them talking about somebody they know what they’re talking about they know because they’ve been there it’s not that somebody else told them and again I think when a guy like Kevin weeks who’s played in the NHL talks to people in the NHL they’re going to let their guard down they’re going to be more relaxed around him because they’re talking to a peer um they’re going to probably tell him a better story than they’re going to tell somebody who didn’t play like EJ Ric uh but again I think a guy like um Kevin weeks would be an excellent GM you know and in other sports you look at you know people who have gone from the broadcast Booth to uh coaching in this position was Bob brenley and Buck Martinez both of them were announcers before they went on to be coaches and yeah they had good success so you can see guys you know make that transition and again I think a guy like Kevin weeks is just so smart he’s just overflowing with hockey knowledge everybody likes him he’s not going to get taken advantage of in any deals in any way shape or form and when you talk about something in the hockey world he knows exactly what you’re talking about so that’s going to do it for this uh episode today let me know what you think you know Columbus is going to have to pick a GM sooner or later it’s been a while so I’m hoping they make a decision soon uh but again the three guys we talked about today Mark bersan Ryan Hardy and Kevin weeks you could see one of their names uh popping up real soon with GM next to it uh let me know what you think down in the comments section if you could please hit the like button hit the Subscribe button and as we always do here clearing the benches let them know you’re out there [Applause]

With less than 6 weeks until the NHL draft, Columbus Blue Jackets boss John Davidson still needs to hire a general manager or make the selections himself at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
We looked at three possibilities:
Marc Bergevin former Montreal Canadiens GM
Ryan Hardy GM Toronto Marlies/Asst to GM Toronto Maple Leafs Was GM for Chicago Steel and USHL GM of the Year prior to that
Kevin Weekes Former NHL player and broadcaster on the NHL Network, Hockey Night in Canada as well as ESPN…