Laurence Larssen

Professor Duhaime

Management paper

10/23/2016

An NHL team consist of a wide range of managers and those being managed. With

an NHL team the levels of management vary throughout and the levels of control they have

throughout the whole organization change depend on how high up you are in the rankings.

The difference in the way an NHL team and a business are managed is not to prominent. A

text book way an NHL team is run is the way the Boston Bruins organization is manages

their team. They have a wide variety of levels of management through the organization and

the off-ice operations are ran and managed just like a company. There is much more than

just managing a hockey team within a hockey organization.

An NHL hockey organization or team are very similar to the way a standard

business is run. They are run primarily in the organizational structure, the divisional

structure used to run businesses with multiple branches. For example, a business managed

in the divisional structure is managed in different divisions. Similar to this structure, the

Boston Bruins are organized in specific division for the different tasks throughout the

organization. These divisions are Hockey Operations, Scouting Staff, Coaching Staff,

Training and Equipment Staff, and Business operations. These divisions sit below the
Owner and Executive division. The Boston Bruins use the same structure as most NHL

hockey organizations.

Starting with the top of the pyramid for the Boston Bruins, there is the owner. For

every business there ever has been there is some form of owner. All businesses are either

sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations. Unlike many professional sports

organizations, that are usually partnerships, the Boston Bruins are a sole proprietorship.

The only owner of the Boston Bruins is Jeremy Jacobs. Jeremy Jacobs is on his 42nd season

of being the owner of the Boston Bruins. Besides the title of owner, he hold the positon of

team Governor to the NHL board of Governors. In 2007 he was voted the Chairman of the

board of Governors for the NHL. Even though Jeromy Jacobs is the owner, there is a group

of executives who make the major decisions for the organization. The other executives are

Charlie Jacobs who is a chief executive officer, Cam Nelly who is the President, and Harry

Sinden who is the Senior advisor to the owner. These executives create the top division of

the divisional structure that the Boston Bruins follow for an organizational structure.

One of the several divisions of the divisional structure the Boston Bruins follow is

Hockey operations. Hockey operations consist of many jobs but is oversaw by one person.

This one person is the GM or general manager. The General Manager for the Boston

Bruins is Don Sweeney. Don Sweeney overseas all hockey operations in the Boston Bruins

organization. He has held this positon for just over a year now. He played in the NHL for

16 years and 15 of them were for the Boston Bruins, making him one of four players to

play over 1,000 games as a Boston Bruin. In the hockey operations division, it is not only

him as an executive. The other executives are, Scott Bradley who is the assistant general
manager, John Ferguson who is the executive director of player personal, Jamie

Langenbrunner who is the player development coordinator, Evan Gold who is the director

of Legal affairs for hockey operations, Ryan Nadeau who is the director of hockey

operations/analytics, Jeremy Rogalski who is the hockey operations assistant, Dale

Hamilton-Powers who is the director of administration, and Whitney Delorey who is the in

charge of the team travel and services coordinator. Hockey operations takes up the largest

part of a hockey team including the Boston Bruins. Everyone just listed has a job that if it

was not done then it would be detrimental to the organization. These managers must

manager their employees to create a good and working hockey organization. These are the

managers the reason why the hockey organization can exist. This division breaks down

into more divisions showing a perfect concept of the divisional structure of a type of

organizational structure.

On the other side of the divisional structure of the Boston Bruins is Business

operation. Business operations is in charge on the business side of the organization. That

means they oversee the financial aspect of the organization. This division is overseen by

Glen Thornborough who is the Chief Revenue Officer. This is his first year at this position.

He manages all sales processes and strategies for the Boston Bruins. The other managers in

this division are Jim Bednarek who is the vice president of finance, Mathew Chmura who

is the vice president of marketing and communications, Shauna Gilhooly who is the vice

president of human resources, and Chris Johnson who is the vice president of corporate

partnerships. These individuals are considered vice presidents since Glen Thornborough is

considered the president of those divisions even though it is not included in his job title.
These managers are also very important to the operation of the organization. With these

managers, the organization could not have control of its financials properly. This division

having multiple divisions within explains even more how the Boston Bruins have a

divisional structure type of organizational structure.

The Third and Final main division of the divisional structure by the Boston Bruins

affect the team more than any other division of the organizational structure. This division is

the coaching staff. This division is overseen by the head coach. The head coach of the

Boston Bruins is Claude Julien. Claude Julien is in his 10th season as the Boston Bruins

head coach and that is the longest out of any existing coaches. He also has the most playoff

wins out of all Boston Bruins coaches. Other managers within this division are Bruce

Cassidy and Jay Pandolfo who are both assistant coaches, Bob Essena who is the

goaltending coach, Kenneth Pitts and Mike Macchioni are both sports performance

coaches, and J.P. Buckley is the video coordinator. These managers work directly with the

team. These managers influence the productivity of the team and how well they play.

Without these managers being productive, the rest of the organization would struggle from

the lack of a skilled team. This goes to show that the Boston Bruins use the division

structure of organizational structures.

As you can see, an NHL team is setup just like a normal business. The Boston

Bruins are technically a sole proprietorship since their only owner is Jeremy Jacobs. Even

though the Boston Bruins are only to be considered a sole proprietorship in the business

world, the divisional structure they use evenly distributes the work throughout the

company. Using this method of organizational structure has many levels of management
throughout the organization but each manager has a large responsibility, and if one

manager fail it could take down the organization. A business is dependent on how their

employees produce just like an NHL hockey team is within the organization and the actual

team. The Boston Bruins are a perfect example on how an NHL hockey organization and a

business are very alike.

Laurence Larssen

Professor Duhaime

Closing Thoughts

10/24/2016

Throughout this paper I fell that I learned a lot. This paper was a great topic for out

class to do. By doing this paper I feel that it helped recognized the real-world usage of

management. Each company has a specific way of management and this paper helped me

understand how an NHL team is managed, especially the Boston Bruins. Before writing the

paper, I thought that an NHL team did not have as many divisions to the organization that

is has. I saw it as there was a Owner, President, GM, then the coaches and players with a

few people working for the Owner, President, and GM. I didnt realize how organized and

legit of a business an NHL hockey organization is.

Writing this paper, I have felt confident in my work throughout. I feel that the

examples of the many workers in each division may have been lengthy but to me that was

the best and easiest way to describe what each division of the organization does. Without

listening the specific managers and their positions I feel that the paper wouldve been

much harder to follow and feel much less personal if they were not included. Writing this

paper made me realize the endless amount of work that is put into the running of an NHL

hockey organization, especially the Boston Bruins.

 References

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<https://www.nhl.com/bruins/team/exec-hockey-ops>.

McBride, Daniel. "The Hockey Source, Your Resource for Minor Hockey." The

Hockey Source, Your Resource for Minor Hockey. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

<http://www.thehockeysource.tv/sectionsourceknowledge/management.php>.

Ozania, Mike. "The NHL's Most Valuable Teams." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d.

Web. 24 Oct. 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2015/11/24/the-nhls-most-

valuable-teams-2/#672e53b23920>.

De Souza, Raymond J. "Father Raymond J. De Souza: What Is the Role of Major-

league Sports Team Owners?" National Post Father Raymond J De Souza What Is the Role

of Majorleague Sports Teamowners Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

<http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/father-raymond-j-de-souza-what-is-the-role-

of-major-league-sports-team-owners>.