Hanlon quitting Giants
General manager of Vancouver’s WHL team steps down with return to coaching likely destination
Glen Hanlon, 61, is stepping down as general manager of the WHL club after two seasons to pursue other opportunities, team announces
In the end, Glen Hanlon was a coach in general manager’s clothing. The Vancouver Giants announced Monday afternoon Hanlon, 61, was stepping down as GM of the WHL club after two seasons to pursue other opportunities.
Odds are he’ll back behind a bench sometime soon.
When the Giants hired Hanlon to head up their player-personnel department in May 2016, he had name recognition from his time as a player and assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks. He had done a stint, too, as a Giants assistant coach under Don Hay. He knew the market and he knew the Giants ownership led by Ron Toigo.
Hanlon had a limited front-office background, though, and that’s only if you count recruiting players for the various European national teams that he coached.
He made it work with the Giants. The team is trending the right way. They made their first playoff appearance in four springs this season, won their first playoff game since 2012 and did all that with several 16-, 17and 18-year-olds playing key roles.
Most importantly, Hanlon coaxed ownership to take a breath, look in the mirror and then opt for a rebuild for the 2016-17 campaign. That helped put them in a position to grow this past season and down the line.
Throughout his time with the Giants, you’d talk hockey with Hanlon and he wouldn’t be telling you stories about searching out up-and-comers at bantam tournaments or trying to outsmart an adversary on a trade. He’d come off like a coach. He’d speak about working with players like Alex Ovechkin, who debuted with the Washington Capitals when Hanlon was head coach there. He’d speak about Pat Quinn, during his time behind the Canucks bench, spending one-ontime time with guys away from the ice to get to know them.
He’d speak strategy, like how he had trouble bringing back drills from the big ice in Europe to practices in North America because guys were forever crashing into one another here.
It was always clear that Hanlon missed coaching.
Now he’s gone and where the Giants go from here is anyone’s guess. Peter Toigo is their assistant general manager. The son of Ron Toigo has been adamant he’s learning the ropes and not keen on jumping into the hot seat anytime soon, though.
Dean Chynoweth, who was brought in late to be an assistant coach to Jason McKee last season, held the GM duties when he was head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, but when the season ended he wasn’t sure he was returning to Vancouver in any facet for 201819.
Hiring Hanlon was out-of-the-box thinking. It might be wise for Vancouver to go with a little more standard operating policy and find an assistant general manager or head scout from a successful program and bring him on board.
The Brandon Wheat Kings did just that last summer, when they gave the GM duties to Grant Armstrong, who had been a second-in-command type with both the Victoria Royals and Portland Winterhawks.
The Giants did speak with Barclay Parneta, the Tri-City Americans assistant general manager, before hiring Hanlon two summers ago. He’s a former Giants scout, so he’d be familiar with the inner workings of the club.
The Prince George Cougars and Kamloops Blazers were among the teams already looking for GMs before Vancouver’s announcement Monday, so there’s competition to find Hanlon’s replacement.