| Ray Miron |
Miron had no NHL level experience as an executive when the Rockies hired him as their general manager in
1976. All of his experience as coach and GM came in the old Central Hockey League, having coached the
Tulsa Oilers and the Oklahoma City Blazers, and was also the president of the League at the time the Rockies
hired him.
Because of his roots, I think the Rockies served more as a way to get some of the players he coached and
watched in the CHL into the NHL than anything. Example: Mike Christie. The Texas native is not a bad player
in general, but would he have been in the NHL otherwise? Doubtful. And the 1977 Entry Draft, with their
second round pick, Miron chose... Doug Berry out of the University of Denver. He never panned out. Now
there's some good ol' egg on his face, going from choosing Barry Beck with the first pick to picking a local
college kid, and this at a time when the NCAA wasn't a strong contributor to NHL talent yet.
He also had a revolving door behind the bench. If you thought Lou Lamoriello was bad as far as the turnover
for coaches, Miron's was worse. In his five years in Denver, five different coaches, the longest serving being Pat
Kelly, who he knew from... guess where? (Of course, Kelly WAS the most successful of the bunch. He did get
the Rockies into the playoffs.) And of course, the most controversial being Don Cherry, who did not get along
with Miron at all.
My conclusion: I didn't see him as someone that had a lot of patience when it comes to running a team. In fact,
almost nil. His ultimatum to the team in the early months of the 76-77 season stands out. "Get your act together,
or get demoted." But then again, information on him has been scant, as well. I did find a Denver Post article
from late 2010 about his time as GM. In it, Miron did say that he wanted to build the team young (nothing
wrong with that), but upper management wanted instant results, meaning veterans. Things were a mess already
from the Kansas City days, and a clash with his bosses hindered his trying to fix it, I guess.
Most of the rest of the info I found is about his post-NHL venture: being the co-founder of the new Central
Hockey League in 1992 with the late Bill Levins. He founded the league under the concept of central ownership
of all the teams. Seems pretty self-serving to me, but whatever.
He sold the league in 2000 and retired from hockey. He current lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had also won the
Lester Patrick Trophy in 2004 for his contributions to hockey in America.
The CHL's championship trophy is named after him. (The Ray Miron President's Cup.)
1976. All of his experience as coach and GM came in the old Central Hockey League, having coached the
Tulsa Oilers and the Oklahoma City Blazers, and was also the president of the League at the time the Rockies
hired him.
Because of his roots, I think the Rockies served more as a way to get some of the players he coached and
watched in the CHL into the NHL than anything. Example: Mike Christie. The Texas native is not a bad player
in general, but would he have been in the NHL otherwise? Doubtful. And the 1977 Entry Draft, with their
second round pick, Miron chose... Doug Berry out of the University of Denver. He never panned out. Now
there's some good ol' egg on his face, going from choosing Barry Beck with the first pick to picking a local
college kid, and this at a time when the NCAA wasn't a strong contributor to NHL talent yet.
He also had a revolving door behind the bench. If you thought Lou Lamoriello was bad as far as the turnover
for coaches, Miron's was worse. In his five years in Denver, five different coaches, the longest serving being Pat
Kelly, who he knew from... guess where? (Of course, Kelly WAS the most successful of the bunch. He did get
the Rockies into the playoffs.) And of course, the most controversial being Don Cherry, who did not get along
with Miron at all.
My conclusion: I didn't see him as someone that had a lot of patience when it comes to running a team. In fact,
almost nil. His ultimatum to the team in the early months of the 76-77 season stands out. "Get your act together,
or get demoted." But then again, information on him has been scant, as well. I did find a Denver Post article
from late 2010 about his time as GM. In it, Miron did say that he wanted to build the team young (nothing
wrong with that), but upper management wanted instant results, meaning veterans. Things were a mess already
from the Kansas City days, and a clash with his bosses hindered his trying to fix it, I guess.
Most of the rest of the info I found is about his post-NHL venture: being the co-founder of the new Central
Hockey League in 1992 with the late Bill Levins. He founded the league under the concept of central ownership
of all the teams. Seems pretty self-serving to me, but whatever.
He sold the league in 2000 and retired from hockey. He current lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had also won the
Lester Patrick Trophy in 2004 for his contributions to hockey in America.
The CHL's championship trophy is named after him. (The Ray Miron President's Cup.)
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| Raymond Miron Born: 3.20.29 Cornwall, Ontario |
