The Maven's Roundtable has produced varying views of former Rangers' boss Emile (The Cat) Francis. It also has spurred talk about general managers past. Here's what I mean:
Senior Roundtable executive George Grimm had ex-Blueshirt GM Craig Patrick on his podcast last weekend. Always a ferret on the spoor of a good story, George flushed a goodie out of Patrick. Listen up:
"Craig believes that the Rangers fired him in 1986 because he drafted a skinny kid named Brian Leetch ninth overall in the '86 Draft," says Grimm. "Patrick was heavily criticized by MSG management.
"I think it was (MSG executives) Richard Evans and Jack Diller – as well as Phil Esposito. Phil was in pretty tight with them by then. They thought Patrick had wasted the pick. Craig was fired 25 days later."
Patrick also told Grimm that the year coach Fred Shero was fired early in the season that he told Shero (then coach) that Fred was playing Espo too much.
Is There A Brad Marchand Type Of Player On The Rangers?
You and I know that it's Friday and we know that it's "Ask The Maven" time. Today's question is from Peter Prokop of Staten Island. Take it away, Peter:
Grimm: "Fred told him that he had to play him because Phil was so friendly with upper management that he was afraid he'd be fired if he didn't play him. Patrick told him, 'Well, you're gonna get fired anyway if you keep playing him.'"
("Thank You" to George and Craig. For the record, Patrick was one of my favorite hockey people and still is!)