Staois's tenacity drives the Bulldogs
Longtime NHLER brings passion for game to the front office, writes Derek Van Diest.
Steve Staios played more than 1,000 games in the NHL, including a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final with the Edmonton Oilers, but it doesn't compare to how stressed he gets as the president and general manager of the Hamilton Bulldogs.
“Oh yeah, it's not even close,” Staios said with a smile before the Bulldogs' opening the 2022 Memorial Cup against the host Saint John Sea Dogs on Monday.
“Even when you're coaching, you feel like you have a little bit of an impact on the game, too. As a GM, you're just sitting up there watching the team. You maybe offer some advice after the game. It's been really fun, I love it, but it's way more stressful.”
Staios, 48, has been with the Bulldogs since 2015, following a brief stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs as player development adviser and assistant coach. The Hamilton product has a stake in the Ontario Hockey League team and rebuilt a winner four years after their last trip to the Memorial Cup in 2018.
“I got to build my own program and I got to look at all areas and aspects of the game and the build, and I found that really rewarding,” Staios said. “I was president of the team in Year 1 and then I became president and GM.
“The biggest challenge in Year 1 is that I'm sitting in marketing meetings and budgeting meetings and it dawned on me fairly quickly that if I was going to help this team have success and financial stability, I had to build a good hockey team. It's been fun. We've done some things drafting where we revamped our scouting staff and how we looked as some players. It came naturally, for sure.”
Staios played junior for the Niagara Falls Thunder where he was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the second round — 27 overall — of the 1991 NHL draft. He went on to play with the Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, Atlanta Thrashers, Oilers, Calgary Flames and New York Islanders.
Staios finished his NHL career playing 1,001 games and 33 in the playoffs, the bulk on the Oilers' run to the Cup final in 2006, where they lost Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
After retiring, he joined the Maple Leafs as a player development adviser and jumped behind the bench as an assistant after head coach Randy Carlyle was fired 40 games into the 2014-2015 season.
“I loved it, but it wasn't the right time in my life with kids and a family,” Staios said. “I was fortunate enough to have a long-playing career, where you're travelling away from family, so I didn't want to do that again.
“I was set to return with Toronto and continue with player development and see things through and this opportunity with Hamilton came up and it was unique.”
The Belleville Bulls moved to Hamilton in 2015 and became the Bulldogs, replacing the American Hockey League version of the team, who were sold to the Montreal Canadiens and moved to St. John's.
Staios bought into the team, became president and then took on the general manager role.
“It's been unbelievable,” he said. “It really is amazing, because it's different than pro;
you get to meet the players' families and get to know them well and then the billet families and you get to know them and build these connections with the parents.
“It's very rewarding on a personal level. I have players who are now playing pro or in the NHL that text me all the time. Even those guys now playing U Sports, they come back for the games. It's just more of a community feel.”
Staios was in charge when the Bulldogs won the OHL Championship in 2018 and earned trip to the Memorial Cup in Regina, where they were knocked out in the semifinal by the host Pats.
The 2018 version of the Bulldogs featured Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Riley Stillman, St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas, Dallas Stars forward Marian Studenic, Los Angeles Kings forward Arthur Kaliyev and Chicago Blackhawks forward Mackenzie Entwistle.
“After Regina, you realize that the rebuild was going to take four years,” Staios said. “You have to draft right; you have to make the right trades and all the pieces have to be there.
“That's been the most rewarding. The first go-round I only had the team for a couple of years and they proved to me that season, I had to make some acquisitions to give them an opportunity to win. This was a little different because it was a four-year build and it was a little bit more organic.”
This year's edition of the Bulldogs features NHL prospects defencemen Artem Grushnikov (Dallas Stars) and Arber Xhekaj (Montreal Canadiens) and forwards Mason Mctavish (Anaheim Ducks), Jan Mysak (Canadiens), and Ryan Winterton (Seattle Kraken).
The Bulldogs dominated the OHL, finishing with 107 points, then went 16-3 in the playoffs. The only series they lost a game was in the final, where the Windsor Spitfires pushed them to Game 7.
“I think that's probably what's most rewarding about this team,” Staios said. “We got a chance to reflect after we won the OHL championship and you look back at Day 1, and the plan and how we had to regain assets after 2018 and draft the right players in the right positions and develop them. I'm glad it all worked out.”