Law’s loss is the Tucson Roadrunners’ gain.
Roadrunners Director of Hockey Operations and Video Jake Wagman thought he would become an agent when he was working on contracts as a lawyer.
“I quickly decided that wasn’t for me, didn’t love recruiting little kids to start playing hockey at 12 years old and then try to sign them to contracts,” Wagman said. “It just wasn’t my thing. It’s a really cutthroat business.”
Now, Wagman shares victories with 35 people. The Roadrunners (12-9-4-0) return to Tucson on Thursday at 6 p.m. when they host rival San Diego (6-21-0-0).
Before joining Tucson in 2021, Wagman served as the Director of Hockey Operations for the Kelowna Rockets in junior hockey for three seasons. Before that he worked as an attorney in Denver on NHL contracts.
As a lawyer, he prepared NHL Salary Arbitration Briefs and helped clients with the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement.
“Jake’s a really elite person; he’s a real intellect,” said Tucson coach Steve Potvin. “He’s a guy that can handle a lot of stressful situations, nothing really phases him and he’s really on task.”
The Toronto native moved to Denver to work as Hockey Operations Assistant for the DU men’s hockey team.
He said his previous job helps with his current one a little bit. The Roadrunners have made six transactions so far in December, moving players to their ECHL affiliate in Atlanta and getting players from the Coyotes.
“A lot of my job is navigating the collective bargaining agreement with the AHL and some of it goes into the NHL collective bargaining agreement,” Wagman said. “Obviously we have two-way NHL contracts, we have two-way AHL/ECHL contracts so you’re navigating both sides of it and I think my previous experience wasn’t so much on the AHL/ECHL side but I have a pretty good groundwork and framework for the NHL side.
“Collective bargaining agreements, once you’ve read one you get in the rhythm of navigating them and this is no different but yeah it’s been a lot of fun because you kinda touch a little bit of everything in this job.”
Slap shots
Tucson forward Mike Carcone has moved into first in the league in scoring, with 39 points. Carcone had a hand in every one of Tucson’s goals in their 3-2 win over Coachella Valley on Tuesday, scoring two.
Thousands of stuffed animals rained down on the Tucson Arena ice on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022 as part of the Tucson Roadrunners' "Teddy Bear Toss" game. Roadrunner forward Travis Barron scored the team's first goal of the night in the second period of a 3-2 overtime loss -- that first goal serving as the signal to the 5,171 in attendance to throw the stuffed animals they brought on to the ice. The Roadrunners plan to donate the toys to Aviva Children's Services, who will distribute them throughout Pima County during the holiday season. Video by James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star
