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Entries with the tag: Jimmy+Devellano
Alcohol No Longer Part Of The Game
by Paul on 09/06/09 at 08:35 AM ET
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from Doug Fischer of the Ottawa Citizen,
Jimmy Devellano doesn’t want anyone to think of him as a saint.
In 1988-89, when he was general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, Devellano accompanied at least six players—a third of his roster—to Alcoholics Anonymous or drug counselling meetings.
He’s never heard of another GM who’s done that, especially during the offseason, which is when he escorted a young Sheldon Kennedy to AA meetings.
“I needed that like I needed a hole in the head,” says Devellano, now the Red Wings’ senior vice-president. “Spending your summer with recovering alcoholics is no picnic when you don’t have a drinking problem yourself.”
Nor was he particularly happy to make sure Bob Probert, Petr Klima, Steve Chiasson, Joey Kocur and one or two other problem players made it to their meetings.
But Devellano says he did it because he was being paid to win hockey games, and sober and straight players gave him a better chance to achieve that.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Jimmy+Devellano,
Jimmy D. With Advice To The Sharks
by Paul on 08/01/09 at 08:00 AM ET
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from Dave Pollak of the Mercury News,
I reached Devellano on Thursday and he pretty much re-created the Las Vegas conversation he said he had in late June with Wilson and Sharks CEO Greg Jamison.
“We were at the NHL awards and had a drink together,” Devellano said. “I initiated it.”
Devellano said he advised Wilson and Jamison to resist the temptation to break up the team.
“Just tweak it,” Devellano said he told the Sharks brass. “You’re a team that‘s been pretty successful over the years. Maybe there’s a player that can’t get it done, but the one thing you can’t afford to do is just break it up completely. My advice is just to hang tough. See if you can’t add a player here or there. You might have to eliminate a guy. But don’t break it up.”
more from Devellano and Sharks talk too..
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Jimmy+Devellano,
Laraque is Running the Show—Off the Record
by Alanah McGinley on 06/23/08 at 03:21 PM ET
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From Channel Canada:
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Georges Laraque drops the gloves and calls the shots when he slides into the main chair as guest host of Off The Record (OTR), tonight at 6 p.m. ET on TSN.
Not one to back down from a good fight – or a good debate – Laraque will ask the hard-hitting questions to the show’s guests, which include Penguins teammate Gary Roberts, who will be featured in-studio during the Up Front and Next Question segments of the show. [...]
The other guests on tonight’s show will include Detroit Red Wings Senior Vice-President Jim Devellano. Together, Laraque and the guest panelists will take on the key newsmakers and hottest sports topics of the day, including NHL free agency.
In nearly 2,600 episodes, Laraque is the first NHLer to ever host the show.
This is appearing on Canada’s OTR only, not the ESPN version. But it should be available in the online video archives at TSN after the show, for anyone (Pens fans!?) who may be interested.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: gary+roberts, georges+laraque, jimmy+devellano,
