As Kelly McCrimmon announced his decision to take his illustrious career to the next level by accepting an assistant general manager position with the NHL’s expansion franchise in Las Vegas, the obvious question (or worry, for some) was this: Who will fill the gigantic hole that his departure has left in Brandon?
As most of you know, McCrimmon did it all — owner, president, general manager and head coach. He will now only retain one of those positions, continuing as sole owner of the WHL franchise. This overhaul is unprecedented in the Wheat City in the last quarter century, and has fans on edge about who will assume the daunting task of continuing the winning tradition built by McCrimmon in Manitoba. Since McCrimmon took over the Wheat Kings in 1992, Brandon has the most wins of any CHL team over that span. These are indeed big shoes to fill.
So who will inherit the arduous task of leading the franchise into the 2016–17 WHL season as both GM and head coach?
You guessed it, I don’t have the answer to that, and the way McCrimmon keeps his cards so close to his vest, I am not sure that many do. But it is always fun to speculate.
As far as the coaching role is concerned, the safe bet might be Kelly McCrimmon’s right-hand man and assistant coach for the past four seasons, David Anning. Though he’s just 30, Anning has accumulated a great deal of experience. He spent six seasons as a coach in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with Winnipeg, Dauphin and Steinbach and also worked as general manager of the Winnipeg Saints (now the Virden Oil Capitals). Since then, he’s spent four seasons behind the Wheat Kings bench as an assistant coach and ran the club while McCrimmon was away with the world junior team last season. Anning also has experience working with the Canadian U17 team.
With under a month left until training camp, it would be fair to guess that McCrimmon seeks continuity and familiarity with the next head coach. Anning is well respected by the players and has enjoyed success with the team. Colour me shocked if he is not named head coach in the coming weeks.
Now, the general manager opening is the bigger unknown. After speaking to others, I don’t think anyone knows what McCrimmon has planned. At first glance, if he wanted to promote from within the organization, he could look at the trio of Wade Klippenstein (director of player personnel), Mark Johnston (head scout) or Anning.
Klippenstein, however, recently accepted a position with the Colorado Avalanche and will no longer be with the Wheat Kings, so we can cross him out. Johnston has more than 10 years of experience as an assistant coach with Brandon dating back to the 1990s and early 2000s and continues to be high up in the organization. He is not getting any younger, though, and I’m not sure he would want the position or even be an option for McCrimmon. But if we are talking about filling the GM position from within, his name will surely come up.
As for Anning, it may be premature to consider him for a WHL GM job, and McCrimmon may be better served to allow him to become accustomed to being a head coach first. Those are really the only options I can think of for who would be worthy of the GM job, in terms of those who already work for the franchise in some capacity.
What about outside of the organization? Your guess is as good as anyone else’s. We all know McCrimmon has many friends and contacts in the hockey world and it would be appealing to the average fan in Brandon to hire an experienced big name. Trying to guess who McCrimmon is speaking with behind closed doors, though, is extremely difficult, much like trying to predict his next move on the trade front.
The new general manager will no doubt have the luxury of McCrimmon’s expertise at his disposal whenever he needs an guidance on a hockey matter. This will undoubtedly ease the transition period because, although he may not admit it, McCrimmon will continue to have a hand in certain hockey moves that the new GM makes. The new GM will also have his work cut out for him to shore up the Wheat Kings’ defensive group.
Brandon had its question marks on defense last year after Ryan Pilon retired in training camp, Oliver Kylington stayed in the AHL and Colton Waltz asked for a trade. This year appears to be more of the same, as high draft picks Ian Mitchell, Jarrod Gourley and Sean Comrie have all committed to the NCAA route. Mitchell and Comrie are headed to Denver, while Gourley will attend Arizona State.
These three NCAA commitments will open up significant holes to fill, especially Mitchell, who some expect to be a high pick in next June’s NHL draft and who looked impressive with Canada’s U18 team. In addition to those three, Brandon loses Macoy Erkamps and Mitch Wheaton to graduation. They also potentially lose Ivan Provorov to the Philadelphia Flyers, although that remains to be seen. Schael Higson was sent home by the team during the WHL finals and his status for this year is up in the air. The Wheat Kings recently selected two European defencemen in the import draft, but whether they show up in Manitoba remains to be seen. To add to that, it is unclear whether Jordan Thomson will play junior hockey this season, and be able to crack one of the three overage spots if he does decide to suit up.
That leaves Kale Clague, Mark Matsuba and James Shearer as the key cogs on Brandon’s blue line for the upcoming season, which is somewhat frightening for Brandon fans. The new GM will have some moves to make if the 2016-17 version of the Wheat Kings will legitimately compete with the rising Regina Pats for the Eastern Conference crown. The offence is strong and goaltending should be a strong suit with four-year veteran Jordan Papirny between the pipes.
If McCrimmon-esque moves are made to significantly upgrade the blue line (Ron Hextall, if you are reading this, you can be of assistance here), then expect Brandon to compete for a division title once again — although the surging Moose Jaw Warriors and the impressive Pats will have something to say about that.
