(San Jose Mercury)

While it seems that the notion of hiring Kevin Cheveldayoff was almost a lock, the Phoenix Coyotes chose Don Maloney, who spent nine seasons as the assistant General Manager of the New York Rangers under Neil Smith and Glen Sather, as their new General Manager.

Maloney has spent most of his time in a Ranger sweater as he played 11 seasons with the Blueshirts and 10 years in the front office. He did spend some time with the New York Islanders beginning in 1994 as the youngest general manager at age 34; however it was clear then that he wasn't ready for the job as he was fired during the 1995-1996 campaign. Two years later in 1997, he returned to the Ranger organization as the assistant general manager.

In 2000, his responsibilities with the Rangers included the role of Vice-President of Player Personnel where he oversaw the Rangers' minor-league operations and scouting staff, which made him the only former draft pick in Ranger history to run the draft for his former team.

With the Islanders, he was responsible for drafting notable players as Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, Tommy Salo, Darius Kasparaitus, and Zigmund Palffy. He also worked with the San Jose Sharks as their Eastern Scout during the 1996-1997 season.

In 2003, he also was the assistant general manager to Steve Tambellini of team Canada. Team Canada went on to win the gold medal in the World Ice Hockey Championship in Finland.

What does all of this mean for the Coyotes? Taking the optimistic viewpoint with his lack of management experience causing his downfall with the Islanders early in his executive career, we have a GM that has longevity in the NHL. He has been a successful player, has overseen different aspects of hockey operations, he has been involved with international play, and he has ran the draft. Maloney has seen first hand what can happen when a club does not exercise restraint in acquiring free agents and what true hockey development means to young players in the NHL along with franchises looking forward toward stability. With the Coyotes recent history, Maloney might have the necessary experience to deal with the current issues facing this hockey club.

By turning a negative in his stint with the Islanders, into a positive by working closely with those with more management experience, he hopefully will be able to put all of the pieces together here with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Original post by PB and software by Elliott Back

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