An Interesting Career Move

In a teeny-tiny box on the third sports page this morning, the Boston Globe announced that Red Sox bear writer Chris Snow is leaving the paper to become director of hockey operations for the Minnesota Wild. The news leaves me with several questions and one observation. For the record, I know Chris very slightly. He was coming in as I was going out of Boston sportswriting.
Question One is fact-specific and is directed to our Minnesota area correspondents. I'm not familiar with the Wild's table of organization. Does Chris' title mean he's going to wield real power, or is it more of an advisory position for the man who still makes the decisions? Either way, Minnesota's certainly thinking outside the box here. Chris is younger than most NHL players.
Question Two is more philosophical. Chris Snow is a very talented guy and has earned what he's gotten in this field. There's no denying, however, he didn't exactly work up the ladder the hard way. School paper at Syracuse, intern at the Globe and LA TImes, hockey writer for Minn. Star-Trib, Red Sox beat writer at Globe, all by age 25. What does it say that Snow is leaving the premier beat gig in New England and maybe in the nation. It can't be frickin' burnout. He's too young.
If Chris decided he'd rather be in a game than cover one, that's understandable and admirable. If he took a cold look at his future, which had limitless sportswriting options, and decided the National Hockey League was a better bet than newspapers, a man thirty years his senior with fewer options is not encouraged.
Discuss please.
I never read a single Snow article on hockey in the Star-Trib. They sure must have been good ones, though.

 

The first thing that hit me was the Wild must be offering him assloads of money. For someone that young with (you'd think) a world of great jobs and opportunities ahead of him in SJ to jump from that field is strange ... unless the Wild backed up the Brinks.

 

As a bit of a Wild fan, I honestly don't remember ever seeing Chris Snow's work, but obviously he must have been a fine reporter to have that many big-time pro beats by age 25.

It truly is an odd dynamic in Minnesota because Doug Risebrough is president and general manager. Hard to say how a director of hockey operations would fit in with someone else holding that duality. Unless it is a mistake in title, it doesn't seem to fit. Perhaps he's involved with overseeing the minor operations or something.

The trend in the NHL lately has also been to teams hiring people familiar with the business of sports to run their hockey department rather than hockey people. I'm sure Snow had a good grasp of hockey to be a beat writer in a place like Minnesota, but perhaps he's got the sense for contracts or capology that Risebrough might not have.

 

The immediate question I had, Mike, was neither of yours. My first reaction is one of ethics. This guy once covered a team that apparently he had desgins of working for at some point. Did he ever compromise his coverage to curry favor with the front office? I have no idea, but now people will wonder.

 

Snow is an affable guy who, from what i understand, rode some parental connections to high-profile internships. Anyone who feels bad they haven't pulled all that off by 24 is nuts ... he got a lot of breaks. Good writer though.

Risebrough is something of a powermonger, so my guess is he needed a bobo capable of running day-to-day operations. I can't see the Wild breaking the bank to hire someone with no front office experience, especially considering the financial hit they took during the lockout, but I'm sure he got a huge bump.

As for ethics, I don't think there's too many people who would hang up on that call. If he ever compromised coverage for career prospects, he would deserve to be skewered, but I think his reputation is too crystal for that to be true. Strange coincidence though ... straight from covering Theo to being Theo.

 

Sure you're not thinking of Jeff Passan? He's in that same boat. Syracuse product whose father is in the business, pulled strings to get big-time internships.

 

mike,

as for question no. 2, it wouldn't surprise me if he looked at covering the red sox for, say, a decade or so and decided, "no thanks." i'm guessing he'll satisfy his writing jones through other forms, while significantly raising his compensation, setting himself up to remain at that altitude -- in some fashion -- for perhaps a long, long time. and he did a lot of tv work with nesn, so that's another possibility down the road.

he must be a a serious puckhead, though. i wish him well. he seems like a nice guy from his coverage in fort myers.

 

Wow. Perhaps Mr. Snow just OD'd on the journalism bit and decamped for better money in the business he was covering. Happens all the time on the news side. Doesn't mean he was soft on the Wild (they'd probably respect him more if he wasn't).
But he had one of the best sports beats in the country and one of the best beats of any kind in New England. What, if anything, does this say about the Globe? Losing a rising star, and not to a better paper? And in the middle of the season? That's got to sting a bit.

 

I don't think the Wild were the only ones thinking outside the box on this one. Got to applaud a 24-year-old who knows what he wants to do with his life. Go get 'em chris.

 

Interesting, to say the least:


http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2484480

 

I hope for the sake of balance they also had a Red Sox shark reporter.

 

Unintentionally hilarious. The director of hockey ops has to provide website content? No wonder they hired a journo!