There are no hockey cards made of team presidents, posing in front of their desks, with their business statistics on the back. I’ve never heard fans argue about which team’s front office is best, either.
“Oh, man, the Roadrunners’ office staff whips the Gulls’!” said no fan, ever.
But if you want to have a home team that survives and thrives then you better have some talented folks off the ice, sitting in those offices, making it possible for our heroes to lace them up.
We’ve witnessed the success of the Tucson Roadrunners’ hockey-related staff — particularly coach Mark Lamb and general manager Doug Soetaert — but the work of team president Bob Hoffman is less publicly obvious.
Hoffman is a hockey-business lifer, a guy who has worn all the professional hats that hockey teams need, and probably invented a few more that minor league teams can’t afford.
I’ve known about Hoffman for about a decade now, from his years as director of operations for the final version of the minor Central Hockey League. Those league offices were in Phoenix, and they helped launch the CHL Arizona Sundogs franchise in Prescott Valley in 2006.
The CHL and Sundogs are both gone now, part of the consolidation of minor leagues into a clear pecking order: the ECHL as a “AA” minor league, and the American Hockey League as the top minor circuit. (Note to fans: “ECHL” does not stand for “East Coast Hockey League.” Oh, it once did, but not now that the league has teams stretching to all time zones. It’s now just called the ECHL.)
Hoffman has lots of experience in the ECHL and AHL, too. He was executive VP for the ECHL Quad City Mallards, and VP of communications for the AHL Utah Grizzlies.
This isn’t his first from-scratch operation, either. Hoffman was assistant GM of the CHL Youngstown SteelHounds for their inaugural 2005 season.
All that real-world hockey experience is a boon for a new business like the Tucson Roadrunners. A legitimate leader needs precisely relevant experience, wide knowledge, and a sincerely cooperative, respectful, team-building attitude to succeed at the highest level.
Hoffman was not the first choice for team president of the mavens at the Arizona Coyotes, who hired the initial Roadrunners staff this past summer.
Brian Sandy sat in the president’s chair when the office lights went on for the first time a few months ago, while it was still 110 degrees outside. Sandy had previous high-level executive sports experience, but he left the team after a few months for personal reasons. Hoffman changed the title on his business cards from director of sales to team president.
Not many hockey organizations would have a qualified guy like Hoffman already in-house, ready to step in and take charge. It seems like another serendipitous piece of the Roadrunners’ inaugural puzzle.
And the business operations for the Roadrunners appear to have gained momentum under Hoffman. Staff members say his leadership style is calm. He preaches to his mostly very young staff to keep an even keel. Seasons are long, the off season seemingly even longer, and there will be lots of ups and downs. Roll with it. Don’t get too excited. Work hard, have fun.
That all sounds like obvious, logical stuff to business folks who know how to manage people and resources. But many business leaders — let’s call them what they are: bosses — simply don’t understand how to delegate responsibility and then build talent.
Manage, delegate, and build talent. Now that’s the kind of team language that hockey fans can understand. Perhaps the competitive world in those business offices isn’t so different than in the locker room after all.
Get your jersey, I mean business suit, ready, Bob Hoffman — perhaps soon we’ll shoot your hockey card photo after all.
