Coyotes relieve Don Maloney of GM duties
The Arizona Coyotes have relieved Don Maloney of his duties as general manager.
"On behalf of our ownership group and the entire Arizona Coyotes organization, I would like to sincerely thank Don for all of his hard work and the many contributions he made to our organization during his tenure," said Coyotes President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc.
"The Coyotes had some success with Don, but we believe a change in leadership is needed in order to move our franchise forward in a new direction."
The search for a new GM will begin immediately, with assistants John Chayka and Chris O’Hearn taking care of hockey operations in the interim.
.@anthonydleblanc says the #Coyotes will likely have a new GM in place within the next 2-6 weeks.
— Dave Vest (@davest4yotes) April 11, 2016
"We thank Don Maloney, but this is a day about our future and changing our overall philosophy," Leblanc said at a press conference following the formal announcement.
"This decision is not being made because of the fact that this is the fourth straight year of not making the playoffs," he added
"This wasn't a decision we came upon quickly. This is something we've been thinking about."
Anthony LeBlanc said collaboration, communication and modernizing the approach will be key attributes of the new GM.
— Craig Morgan (@craigsmorgan) April 11, 2016
LeBlanc said it would be premature to cite exactly what the team is looking for in a new GM, but analytics will be a significant part of it.
— Craig Morgan (@craigsmorgan) April 11, 2016
Maloney had been with the team since 2007, managing the team to a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2012.