By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
The adventures of a former metro newspaper reporter covering the business side of Las Vegas’ growing sports industry take me to press conferences staged by the Vegas Golden Knights where coach Gerard Gallant answers questions from the sports media.
Occasionally, I’ll ask Gallant a question for a story I’m reporting on.
Most of the time, I just listen to Gallant offer responses about questions about a player’s injury or how his team matches up against an opponent and what it’s like to have so much time waiting between playoff series.
Gallant is a player’s coach. The 54-year-old Prince Edward Island native is a former NHL player (Red Wings — four times a 30+ goal scorer, and a short stint with the Lightning) who also coached the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets. He talks in mostly cliches, especially the ol’ one-game-at-a-time line you hear this playoffs time of year in the NHL and NBA.
But now and then, Gallant opens the door a crack and lets you see a glimpse to his genuine thought process.
At Thursday’s presser, Gallant was talking about the Golden Knights, and acknowledged it’s a special team put together by General Manager George McPhee.
“It’s good people first,” Gallant observed. “Leadership character guys.”
Gallant has made reference to this a few times during the season, too, but today it struck home even more because of how close the team is to reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. The Golden Knights will travel to Winnipeg Friday for Saturday’s Game 1 of the Western Championship Conference. The Knights will be back in T-Mobile Arena on the Strip for Games 3 and 4, Wednesday and Friday.
Hiring good people first who are leadership character guys is a great business philosophy and approach for the launch of any business — whether it’s a professional hockey team or a pizzeria or a PR agency.
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It’s not just about a skill set or a resume when it comes to hiring workers. It’s about hiring people with high character traits.
You can teach skills.
Character and decency? Much more difficult to teach on the job.
The Golden Knights’ selection of their players — from Brad Hunt to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to William Karlsson to Marc-Andre Fleury — have team-first approaches. They’re good guys who are also talented on the ice.
It’s a value system set at the top by the majority owner, Bill Foley, a relaxed and poised former West Pointer who appreciated his U.S. Military Academy roots so much that the team name — Knights — is a tribute to the Long Gray Line.
Of all the Golden Knights fever talk of books and movies about this Cinderella first-year franchise, the biggest legacy of this stunning season is the business lessons that will come from the operation of this team.
The Vegas Way will be lifted and studied in Seattle for the NHL’s newest franchise and in companies across the country. I guarantee you Foley and McPhee will be sought-after speakers on the corporate circuit.
As for Gallant, he’s just taking it one game at a time. For now. Wink, wink.
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