The Everett Silvertips pulled a bit of a surprising move yesterday by firing G.M. Doug Soetart. The dismissal of Soetart itself is not all that surprising to me, but the timing of the move is.
I don't think anyone who looks at the team's recent performance could be surprised that this was Soetart's final year in Everett. The team is currently dead last overall in the WHL and has won one playoff series in the last five years - and zero in the last four years. There's also some high-profile misfires on his record, like the use of a high 2009 first round bantam pick on Seth Jones, who appears not to be headed for the WHL. I mean, how good would Reid Gow or (especially) Eric Roy, the next two defencemen picked in that draft after Jones, look on Everett's roster right now?
Soetart was in the last year of his contract and that alone, in the absence of talks about an extension, usually gives an indication that somebody may be on thin ice. So this really can't be too much of a surprise.
The timing though: why now? The trade deadline having passed, there is very little that a new G.M. coming in right now can do for the remainder of the year. From here though the end of the season, the hockey-related duties of a G.M. probably amount to monitoring/recruiting prospects and preparing for the bantam draft. So why now? Has the working relationship between Soetart and his bosses become so uncomfortable that the best solution is for him to not be there any longer? Were his bosses that unhappy that 3 weeks ago he declined to trade stars like Ryan Murray and Kent Simpson and now risks losing them for nothing next year?
Questions, questions.
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