Login

*Otrebor13* · 10-29-2020, 04:02 PM

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of "Visiting the Office of..."! It’s been a little while since I’ve released one of these articles, but with the playoffs starting and some of us either on bye or having the offseason start early, I figured I would bring some more media for the league to read. I would also like to point out that this article was written/constructed prior to the season starting or just at the beginning of the season, therefore it does not include any of this past season’s events.

Today’s edition of VTOO I bring to you my current GM. Someone who has been around for a very long time around the SHL and has had his fair share of success around the league. There has been some controversy surrounding both the team and him in the past, but I’m sure this will be a great read for those of you who enjoy the articles! Without further ado, I present to you my interview with Hamilton Steelhawks GM Hallsy!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're another GM that has been present for a very long time in the SHL. For those who don't know, you joined the SHL back in S6, so we'll start there. When you first joined the SHL, did you think you'd still be a part of the league 50 seasons later? What was your initial thoughts and intentions when you first joined the league?

Honestly, I really didn’t think about the future of this league or that I was going to be in this community for as long as I have. At the time I just thought this could be something that could fill in the time during the summer months and give me the hockey itch that I was looking for in June/July/August. I honestly was probably just planning on staying for the summer or something like that. But obviously I have stayed on for that long. I have had breaks since then as I think those are necessary with the drama and some of the stress that this league can give you at times.

A young Hallsy (middle) joining the SHL in the early days

As someone you took time off themselves, I completely understand the need to step away sometimes. While we’re all here to have fun, this league can definitely get the best of you sometimes.

Being around for a while and sticking with the league, you didn't get an SHL GM role for quite some time, as you started managing the Hamilton Steelhawks in Season 32. Was GMing in the SHL something you wanted to do or was it something that came about later on in your time with the league?

I always liked the idea of GMing, it was something that I always wanted to do in this league probably since S11. However, I really didn’t try to become a GM. It kinda just fell in my lap when I joined the Steelhawks. It was more of an afterthought back in S31 I just wanted to join the league again and enjoy my time with Ben Dover. I have enjoyed my position of GMing with the Steelhawks and I am quite happy with being able to manage this team. I have learned a lot of things along the way and it has been a challenge and something that I don't regret doing. I have gained a lot of friends throughout this process and I am happy that the GM position fell in my lap back in S31.

Perhaps something a little different: while you are still currently the GM of the Steelhawks, you had a slight hiatus from GMing. You GMed the Steelhawks from Season 32 to Season 41 and then took a break from managing the team until ultimately regaining the GM position in Season 45. Would you like to discuss some of the reasons that kept you away from GMing for those 4 seasons? We respect your decision if you choose not to answer the question.

There were multiple reasons why I took a hiatus during those 4 seasons. I recently got a concussion during this time frame and I really couldn’t look at a screen during the time, which was probably one of the primary factors why I decided to step down. Another loss in game seven hurt a lot too because I felt we had a really good team at the time that could go deep. Also at the time, Teddy was doing a great job GMing the Whalers and I know he would come in and probably do a better job than I would do. If I didn’t have the in real life problems or having a great guy to come in and replace me during this time. I probably would have not stepped down during this time.

Now let's go through some of the highlights that was a crazy off season. Firstly, let's start with the expansion draft. The expansion draft impacted the Steelhawks a little differently than other teams, as you lost two very major pieces to the team. Tig got selected as one of the expansion draft GMs, and then Guy Zheng was asked to become the Co-GM of Atlanta. Let's start with Tig. Did you suspect that Tig was going to get the position as one of the expansion draft GMs?

I knew the minute when Tig told me that he was going to apply that he was going to get one of the positions as one of the expansion GMs. I knew the only way that he wasn’t going to apply was if some of the Co-GMs like Luke, Tomen, etc. Might apply and that was the only way he wasn’t going to get the job. He did his dues down in the SMJHL and is one of the best SMJHL GMs of all time. He has learned a lot about GMing. He has had a good mentor in Detroit in WannabeFinn and he has been an important member of the Hamilton Steelhawks war room during his time here. I know that he is going to do a good job and it’s going to be hard to try and replace him over the long term in the war room and on the team. I am happy for him to get the position and honestly half of me wanted him to get the position but also another part of me didn’t want him to get the position as I know he was going to be missed in Hamilton. Also, he is another great GM in the league and he won’t be easy to deal with in trade negotiations or just compete with for the Challenge Cup.

Hallsy (left) and Tig Murphy (right) on the ice together during their final season as Steelhawks teammates

Moving on to Zheng, who was the other big piece lost during this past offseason. I think this one was a little more unexpected. What did you think when you were approached about Zheng becoming the Co-GM in Atlanta and having to trade a guy who was arguably one of your team's best defenders?

It fucking sucked honestly, it was going to be hard to replace Tig alone but when you add Zheng on top of that it’s going to be an even bigger struggle for us to replace this season. The time in between the expansion draft and free agency I am not going to lie but I knew that this off-season was a make or die off-season for us. We need to make the moves that will net us some positives or we might as well rebuild Hamilton. We lost two core pieces in Tig and Zheng. The only really positive thing that we did was that we knew Theo Morgan was coming to Hamilton at the time and was really the only positive thing going for us this off-season (Edmonton allowed teams to talk to Morgan prior to the expansion draft so it was legal). I also knew that teams like Buffalo and Edmonton were going to be weaker due to what they lost in expansion and free agency. Additionally, Manhattan was going to get older and they had some cap space to do some damage in the off-season too. But also the Zheng move set us up for a lot of our moves this off-season. The retention of O'Shea and the freeing up of 6mil from Glutes' contract was allowing us to create more space to be more aggressive this off-season.

Being aggressive is definitely something we saw from the Steelhawks in the offseason.

On top of the expansion draft, you and the Steelhawks had a pretty wild Free Agency period. Was this one of the craziest off seasons and/or Free Agency periods you've been a part of as a GM?

I knew it was going to be a crazy off-season. There were so many people that were going to free agency that were actually planning on leaving. I heard rumors of Scarn leaving the Buffalo discord, Frick Nasty was not wanting to stay in NOLA. Frick was another person like Morgan where the team who owned their rights allowed other teams to talk to him. We had positive talks with him and I knew that if we offered up the money in an offer sheet we could get him to come to Hamilton. I honestly think this was my best off-season as a GM. But also I feel like I got really lucky as it felt like every move that we made perfectly aligned with one another. Getting O’Shea + 4th Overall for Zheng set us up to move down to 10th OA and get our 1st back in S57. With that first, I knew that we could offer sheet and sign Frick Nasty. Then we could keep the San Fran first next season, which looks to be a lottery pick. The trade with Seattle to bring in Chico Smeb allowed us to free up some cap and allowed us to fill in a hole at a lower price tag. Without that move we wouldn’t be able to get Traunter at 9.5mil. The Bongo move sucked as I was a big fan of his and hoped to keep him long term but it was necessary as we didn’t have the space to keep him as we would have 7 active D and we didn’t have the cap space to make that kind of offer to Scarn. It allowed us to up our offer so we could secure him. He was one of our main targets as I knew if we didn’t get him then whoever did get him was going to be a tough team to beat. Then picking up Rotti was something that was personally unexpected for us. It was weird for us to see him unsigned after the first day of free agency and the thought that no one has contracted him shocked us and we knew we had to make a move for him right now or it would be too late. Honestly, I have always planned to be aggressive in free agency and have always tried to pull off off-seasons like this one. I feel like this was the first time my aggressiveness actually worked and I am quite happy with what we were able to accomplish this off-season. I have felt that I have been on a roll GMing wise lately and everything has been falling into place for us. Last season: The move for Clapper and Zheng, Trading Kryyst for a first + and drafting Gooney and CC with late round picks was also I think a very underrated off-season. I was disappointed that I didn’t get a GM of the year nomination this season but EDM, BUF, and MAN are all great GMs and I see why they deserve those nominations.

Hallsy in front of reporters to discuss his very aggressive offseason after some of the biggest signings in team history were made

We've discussed the roster, but let me switch it up and discuss the team image. We just saw the Minnesota Chiefs rebrand to become the Minnesota Monarchs after their very long SHL history. Have you ever thought about rebranding - or even relocating - the Hamilton Steelhawks?

When we last redid the Steelhawks logo, we thought about a rebrand mostly because there really isn't much you could do with your logo. However, we are quite happy with what we were able to make then and honestly there has been no point ever since to do a rebrand of any kind. I might have tried to meme myself into getting the Hamilton Hotdogs with the snapchat Hotdog logo as our jersey at one point but I didn’t really think about it. The jerseys were actually nuts and it always hurts to see that I can’t find them anymore. Relocating might have crossed our minds during that time but I really don’t remember if it was something seriously considered as we knew that it was going to get turned down by HO at the time.

Thankfully relocation wasn’t considered because I love the branding and have loved it since way back in Season 3 (even when the logo wasn't great).

Lastly, there's been some discussion around the league about Home Town Discounts and how it impacts the league parity and contracts as a whole. The Steelhawks name has been mentioned a few times as one of the teams who is benefitting from the Home Town Discount rule. I would like to get your opinion on Home Town Discount contracts and whether you think they're good for the league or if they should be removed?

I know a lot of people are doing some complaining about this situation about the hometown discount. However, the new tier changes will make a larger impact and it has yet to even make an effect on any team yet. These changes are going to take some time to be in effect and I think the league needs to see what the outcomes of those changes will be prior to making more cap restrictions to teams to try and force parity in the league. I have done some future cap planning and I know it's not going to look as pretty for us in a couple of seasons as it did this past off-season. I think people are just overreacting at the moment and just need to wait it through. Also, we wouldn’t have been able to do the moves we did if we weren't able to get Seattle and Atlanta to retain on the trades we made with them.

This was some great insight in to not only a fantastic offseason, but a great GMing career so far. Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and give our readers some great content!

Well, there you have it. Just like that we get to the end of another edition of VTOO. On my quest to try and get every single GM interviewed, we’ve done a pretty good job. Expansion has added a little more work for me, but we should be just fine to reaching our goal at some point in the future. Once again, this article was written at the conclusion of the offseason and just as the season was beginning, therefore no Season 56 events were included. I would like to thank @Hallsy for taking the time to answer the questions and give us a great perspective in to his GMing career.

To all of you readers who continue to read these and enjoy this series, thank you and I hope you enjoyed this edition of VTOO. If not, hopefully the graders are reading these at least!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------