The Ottawa Senators hire Pierre McGuire as Senior VP of Player Development
For the first time since the 1990s, Pierre McGuire has a gig with an NHL team.
The Ottawa Senators announced on Monday morning that the long-time broadcaster and analyst for TSN and NBC to be the team’s Senior Vice President of Player Development.
News Release: The #Sens have announced the appointment of Pierre McGuire as senior vice president of player development: https://t.co/BEnCkiJOYF pic.twitter.com/OCksrkh8Lw
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) July 12, 2021
McGuire’s coaching career began at NCAA Division III school Hobart College, where he served as an assistant. He was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990 as a scout and was added behind the bench as an assistant coach the following season. McGuire won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 1991 and 1992.
In November of 1993, McGuire was named head coach of the Hartford Whalers, replacing Paul Holmgren, who had stepped aside from the role mid-season. McGuire was the youngest coach in the NHL at the time at the age of 32 and only lasted six months in the role before getting fired.
An article from the Hartford Courant described his turbulent tenure behind the team’s bench…
In 15 years of covering the NHL, we had never seen a coach so universally disrespected and disliked within his own organization.
McGuire fancied himself two parts Scotty Bowman and one part Bob Johnson. It turned out to be a superhuman leap of faith on his part.
At 32, McGuire was the youngest head coach in the NHL. He never had been a head coach at any level. And it showed. He is book smart and X’s and O’s smart, but often not people smart.
When a young man is so headstrong, so emotional, so calculating, such a control freak, so full of ambition and so full of himself, he will either rocket to the top or crash.
Between 1994 and 1996, McGuire served as a scout for the Senators. He then got into broadcasting by serving as a colour commentator for Montreal Canadiens home games.
“On behalf of the entire Senators organization, I would like to welcome Pierre McGuire back to Ottawa,” Senators owners Eugene Melnyk said in a statement. “We are excited to add Pierre to our hockey management group. His experience will be instrumental as we continue to build an elite team. Pierre’s knowledge of the game and its players is highly regarded and I am confident that he will positively assist our team as it progresses to the next level.”