Chris Snow jobbed

[Chest Rockwell]

Remember his career reboot? He became a front office victim this week. Wonder what's next.


http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/blogs/93464374.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUBP7h_47cQiU47cQUU


Wild extends FSN contract, evaluates broadcasters, fires Snow
Posted by Michael Russo

Last update: May 12, 2010 - 9:40 AM

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--The Wild has reached an extension with Fox Sports North to continue to broadcast Wild games. The length of the deal is undisclosed and an announcement will come at a later date.

In a statement to my inquiry, Bill Robertson, the team's VP of Communications and Broadcastings, said, “The Minnesota Wild have concluded negotiations with FS-North and have extended our current agreement to broadcast Wild NHL games. At the same time, the Wild will continue to work with over-the-air partner, KSTC-TV, while the new contract with FS-North has no immediate impact on the Wild’s KSTC-TV partnership.”

However, that's immediate impact. It's believed all Wild games will move exclusively to Fox Sports North in 2011-12.

-- As for the broadcasters, the contracts for TV announcers Dan Terhaar and Mike Greenlay and radio announcers Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid have yet to be extended.

“The Wild are currently in the overall review process with our television and radio broadcasters regarding their work,” Robertson said. “We will be meeting with them in the coming weeks to discuss their agreements.”

--The Wild has fired director of hockey operations Chris Snow. A former sportswriter, Snow, 28, made national news four years ago because of the unorthodox hiring. He returned to Minnesota from the Boston Globe, where he covered the Red Sox, but he also covered the Wild in 2003-04 and part of the 2004-05 lockout for the Star Tribune.

Here is the Esquire feature on Snow.

Under former GM Doug Risebrough, Snow did a lot of analytical work of other team rosters, cap commitments and statistics. He also assisted in arbitration strategies, organized the scouts and did collective bargaining agreement interpretation. This season, he spent much of his time scouting.

"Though the year ended for me the way it has, I appreciate the year working for Chuck [Fletcher] because his management style differs some ways from Doug [Risebrough]," Snow said. "I think that was positive for me to participate in that. Because other people were hired to take over some of the responsibilities I have, it gave me the opportunity to be out of the office scouting. I enjoyed that and it was another skill-set Chuck enabled me to add."

Snow said he has no plans to return to sportswriting. He wants to remain in sports management.
"This was a radical decision. Covering the Red Sox is a pretty good job, but I made the decision because this is what I want my career to be," Snow said. "I feel the people I've worked with taught me a great deal, so I feel confident that I can add value to an organization."

You can bet if Risebrough gets the Tampa job, Snow will have a good opportunity to rejoin an NHL team soon. Steve Yzerman, Pierre McGuire and Paul Fenton are also reportedly being considered. Toronto's Dave Nonis got an extension to stay with the Leafs.

 

[Stitch]

Even f* studs hit the unemployment office.

 

[CarlSpackler]

Well, he's already had three cooler jobs than me at the exact same age. Plus I doubt he'll live with his parents during his unemployment stint like I did. But for today, I don't mind the straw I drew in life.

 

[Double J]

Jobbed? Um, no. He joined a team that racked up 104 points in his first season, and won its division the following year. That's been followed by point totals of 89 and 84 and two straight seasons out of the playoffs. This year, the Wild finished 13th in a 15-team conference.

Jobbed would be a good description for Snow's situation if the team went deep into the postseason but got rid of him anyway. That does happen sometimes in professional sports, though. Its executives are, for the most part, hired to be fired. In 1971, Al MacNeil won a surprise Stanley Cup in his first season as coach of the Montreal Canadiens. He was immediately relieved of his duties and demoted to Montreal's AHL farm club.

Snow's dismissal is worth noting, but not worth lamenting for any length of time. If he's any good at what he does, he'll have another job in hockey very soon.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

Jobbed? Um, no. He joined a team that racked up 104 points in his first season, and won its division the following year. That's been followed by point totals of 89 and 84 and two straight seasons out of the playoffs. This year, the Wild finished 13th in a 15-team conference.

Jobbed would be a good description for Snow's situation if the team went deep into the postseason but got rid of him anyway. That does happen sometimes in professional sports, though. Its executives are, for the most part, hired to be fired. In 1971, Al MacNeil won a surprise Stanley Cup in his first season as coach of the Montreal Canadiens. He was immediately relieved of his duties and demoted to Montreal's AHL farm club.

Snow's dismissal is worth noting, but not worth lamenting for any length of time. If he's any good at what he does, he'll have another job in hockey very soon.

I'm thinking the thread title exists primarily for the pun.

Problem is, I saw "snow" and "job" and immediately thought of Al Snow and the J.O.B. Squad. It took a couple of minutes to shake "what does everybody want? HEAD!" out of my brain, and a couple of minutes more to remember who Chris Snow is.

Sounds like he'll probably spend a year or so as a scout, which probably isn't the worst thing for him at this point. He could do that for five years, then STILL be a hot young hire when he returns to the front office.

 

[anonymousprick]

Hockey isn't like journalism, where the straight-out-of-college show ponies keep their plum gigs as long as they want them, whether or not their spots are merited. Your team doesn't get the job done, you hit the road.

 

[RickStain]

I thought Dean Koontz had finally giving up on finishing that trilogy.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

His job was done for when Riser was pink-slipped and Fletcher came in. Strictly handwriting on the wall. Another guy with a hockey pedigree might have had a chance of working with Chuck. Not Snow. Maybe he could get a job scouting--but I have absolutely no idea where. He could follow DR to another job but I dunno how many other hockey execs would really be interested his Risebrough's experiment. I know some who thought he was a little too sure of himself.

o-<

 

[Mizzougrad96]

He'll be fine, whether it's with another hockey team or if he gets back into journalism (which I doubt).

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

He scouted this year under the new regime. I had never talked to him, or knew him aside from the numerous SportsJournalists.com mentions of him, until this year. But I talked to him once and found him to be a pretty good dude. I guess he spent a lot of time going to AHL games. If Riseborough doesn't get the TB gig, I'm sure he'll get something. I bet he could get decent TV appearances, if he wanted them.

 

[Double J]

Jobbed? Um, no. He joined a team that racked up 104 points in his first season, and won its division the following year. That's been followed by point totals of 89 and 84 and two straight seasons out of the playoffs. This year, the Wild finished 13th in a 15-team conference.

Jobbed would be a good description for Snow's situation if the team went deep into the postseason but got rid of him anyway. That does happen sometimes in professional sports, though. Its executives are, for the most part, hired to be fired. In 1971, Al MacNeil won a surprise Stanley Cup in his first season as coach of the Montreal Canadiens. He was immediately relieved of his duties and demoted to Montreal's AHL farm club.

Snow's dismissal is worth noting, but not worth lamenting for any length of time. If he's any good at what he does, he'll have another job in hockey very soon.

I'm thinking the thread title exists primarily for the pun.

Problem is, I saw "snow" and "job" and immediately thought of Al Snow and the J.O.B. Squad. It took a couple of minutes to shake "what does everybody want? HEAD!" out of my brain, and a couple of minutes more to remember who Chris Snow is.

Sounds like he'll probably spend a year or so as a scout, which probably isn't the worst thing for him at this point. He could do that for five years, then STILL be a hot young hire when he returns to the front office.

I am duh. Good point about the pun.....I completely whiffed on that one. What can I say, I was up way later than I ought to have been.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Granted, I rarely, if ever, click the hockey threads on this board, but I don't think I've seen a Chris Snow mention on this board in at least a few years.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sir,

He'll be fine, whether it's with another hockey team or if he gets back into journalism (which I doubt).

Vice versa. He can get a job easier in journalism than he can in hockey (at least at the NHL level, with the possible exception of a media-relations or website deal). He doesn't really have clips to show GMs for a scouting job.

o-<

 

[Dan Hickling]

I know Bob Snow, Chris' dad, really well -- as fine a gentleman as you'll ever meet -- and I know Chris a little bit, but well enough to know the apple didn't land far from the tree ... he'll be fine ... he won't be moving back with Mom and Dad anytime soon, unless he brings his bride with him ... she, by the way, covers the Twins for St. Paul PP (I think) ...

 

[WriteThinking]

Why would anyone think he wouldn't be fine?

Frankly, he's had charmed careers so far, in both fields.

He strikes me as the kind of person who always will be able to do virtually whatever he wants to do.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Mr Thinking,

I hope he wants to do journalism, then. He is in deep if he thinks he's going to get a director of hockey ops or AGM or something from anybody other than Doug Risebrough. I don't know how charmed it is when you get whacked from your first job in a new field. Most of the hockey ops guys--those in equivalent positions as Snow--have been in their organizations for a long stretch and/or are thoroughly connected hockey lifers. There's very little turn-over in that stream--some guys going from one organization to another with better offers and promotions. There are a few guys who didn't play hockey at a high level and graduated up the ranks from organization joe-jobs to positions with clout--and they pulled it off after ten or 15 years or slogging. Snow came in with something close to a corner office. He'll have to go backward for a hope of going forward again.

FWIW When Chuck F put his personnel list last fall for the league-wide internal directory--not for the media but for other hockey guys--Snow's name didn't make it. Just letting his contract wind down.

o-<

 

[Batman]

Unavailable for comment.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Unavailable for comment.

A licky boom boom down.