Arizona Coyotes

Coyotes Name Yet Another Ex-Player to Management
May 19, 2017, 10:35 AM ET [79 Comments]
James Tanner
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Stop the Presses.

Peel your eyes away from the ongoing news of treason in the real-life Robert Ludlum book that just never stops revealing new and hilarious information, and check this out: The Arizona Coyotes have a brand new assistant general manager.

Say whaaaaaaaaaaat?

Look out, main floor of the house, cause we're getting out of the basement for sure now!

I am excited and honoured to pass on the news that Steve "Sully" Sullivan has been announced as the Coyotes new Assistant GM. Or is that Assistant to the General Manager? I'll have to check.

You may remember Steve Sullivan from his time as a Toronto Maple Leaf or a Nashville Predator.......or even as a Coyote. Or maybe you remember him from his brief stint in the WWF (possibly not true). I could now pad this article with his career stats, but I don't care about them and neither do you. It is far more interesting to consider whether or not an NHL player has ever appeared in the WWF - we know a President has!!



(Note other than Rikishi, that's the fattest guy Stone Cold ever Stunned).

The only thing we care about, as we analyze this international breaking news, is what will Sully do for the Coyotes?

Let's see: he's an ex-player. So that means that instead of searching for a qualified candidate from a large field, they went with the same old strategy every team uses. "Ah just get me some rando who used to play in the league!" I think the Coyotes should have gone for the pilot Sully, but whatever.



It would be really nice if a team - any team - went beyond the same old field of candidates and hired from a larger pool of candidates, but I digress. I mean, why would we expect a team playing hockey in a desert, with a 28 year old GM whose coach is his boss to make an interesting or progressive decision?

Personally, I actually did expect that. As stupid as the Coyotes set-up is, it is at least unorthodox, you have to give it that.

But whatever, some jocks are smart and maybe Sullivan is a good choice - how would I even know?

All I know is that he was promoted from 'Director of Player Development,' whatever that means.

In the articles I read for research on this story, I did not hear Dave Tippett's name once, so one assumes this was John Chayka's decision.



Other than that, I mean, it's an assistant GM - who cares?

One mystery remains though: Just who is going to be the new Director of Player Development? This is information I need and I need it now.

Could it be ex NHL player Zarley Zalapski? What about Mike Modano? (Oh I forgot, ex-players who were stars get automatic GM jobs) maybe it will be Lonny Bohonos? Could it be Lance Axleson, ex AHL third liner?

I think it could be - my money is on Lance!!