Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis is very pleased with his general manager Brian MacLellan.
Tuesday, Leonsis welcomed new head coach Peter Laviolette on Twitter and also added a kind note for Mac on the hiring process.
“Very impressed with how efficient our GM conducted his search,” Leonsis said.
Proven winner to DC. Warm embrace and welcome from all to new @Capitals Head Coach Peter Laviolette. Very impressed with how efficient our GM conducted his search. #ALLCAPS https://t.co/vqLIin0osP
— Ted Leonsis (@TedLeonsis) September 15, 2020
I’m not completely sure why efficiency is important here as the Capitals were the only active NHL team to have a head coaching vacancy. So let’s try to talk this out and maybe we’ll make more sense of it.
- Perhaps the Capitals not having a head coach simply made Ted’s tummy gurgle at night and he’s glad it’s over.
- Maybe Ted is impressed by how few candidates Brian interviewed (only three serious contenders emerged according to reporting)
- Maybe Brian was waffling on the decision and this is more of a reverse-psychology show of support
- Or! The Seattle Kraken have not hired a head coach yet and Laviolette has a close relationship with Seattle GM Ron Francis from their time together previously in Carolina. Perhaps the Capitals identified Laviolette as their top choice early on and Ted was worried they might lose out on him to Seattle if they moved slowly.
- While the Capitals were conducting their search, Dallas, San Jose, and Calgary all had interim head coaches. Since then, the Stars’ Rick Bowness led his team to the Stanley Cup Final and seems destined to become their new bench boss full time. Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames’ made Geoff Ward their permanent coach on Monday. It’s possible these teams reached out to several of the Capitals’ candidates as well and there was more competition for Laviolette’s services than we know.
- Perhaps this coaching search went so fast that there was NO competition from other teams and the Capitals saved money or simply got their guy by not having to compete against another team for Laviolette’s services.
Who knows? What does seem clear is that Leonsis is happy that the Capitals got the best coach available due to this GMBM efficiency. Or maybe it’s the Pepto Bismal thing before bed. I really don’t know, but hopefully, we’ll find out more later.
Screenshot courtesy of @Capitals
