Avs name Giguere GM

Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 24, 2006 at midnight

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It was 12 years ago to the day when a tense Franois Giguere, a hockey operations administrator with the Quebec Nordiques, was told to serve as chauffeur for Pierre Lacroix, driving him to a news conference during which he would be presented as the team’s general manager.

"He was a nervous wreck," Lacroix recalled. "His shirt was all wet."

The roles were reversed Wednesday, though this time driver and passenger were quite relaxed on the ride to the Pepsi Center, where the outgoing Colorado Avalanche general manager introduced Giguere as his successor and executive vice president.

"My shirt’s a little drier now," Giguere said with a laugh.

Giguere, who was negotiating players’ contracts for the Nordiques in 1994, thought his days with the team were numbered after Lacroix left a lucrative practice as a players’ agent to become his boss.

Previous contract talks regarding one of Lacroix’s clients, goalie Jocelyn Thibault, had gotten "a little dicey," Giguere said. "Pierre wanted to wring my neck. I didn’t like my chances of staying. I was sure I was going to get fired."

Not only did Giguere keep his job, he made the move to Denver when the franchise was sold and renamed the Avalanche. He paid his dues, rose through the ranks and now, after a 31/2-year apprenticeship as assistant general manager with the Dallas Stars, is second in command in Colorado.

Lacroix, who remains team president, said the Avalanche "needed to look at all potential great candidates" before hiring Giguere, 42, to ensure he "earned" the position, that it "was not a slam dunk" merely because the team was so familiar with his résumé.

But Lacroix, his hockey staff and Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke kept coming back to Giguere, and a long-term deal was finalized Tuesday night.

"I’m excited about the challenge of maintaining the level of excellence that the Avalanche has always held," Giguere said. "I can assure Avalanche fans that those standards will be the focal point of my work on a daily basis."

Both men attempted Wednesday to quash the notion Lacroix will continue to run the show, even if he stepped down as general manager May12 to spend less time in the day-to-day operations of the franchise and more with his family.

"He’s the boss," Lacroix said. "He has full authority on his annual budget operation of the whole franchise. Every employee reports to Francois. It’s a photocopy of the chain of command of the last 11 years; nothing has changed. You always report to somebody. I reported for 11 years to ownership and at the request of Mr.Kroenke."

Lacroix said he would remain involved in personnel decisions but won’t be meddlesome.

"It’s Francois’ operation, and I say it sincerely," he said.

Giguere said he "feels very comfortable" with the chain of command and intends to lean on Lacroix for advice.

"If I thought it was a problem, I wouldn’t be here," he said. "I’m going to be picking his brain a ton. He’s too important an asset for me not to use him and use that experience. Hopefully, it’s going to accelerate my development as a general manager.

"We’re all about winning here. I want to be a part of it, one ingredient in a winning formula. I always felt we did things as a team and we had success as a team."

Giguere said he turned down previous general-manager opportunities because he needed to hone his hockey knowledge.

"At that time, I saw myself as a business guy who was in hockey," said Giguere, who graduated from Laval University in Quebec in 1985 with a degree in administration, an accounting license and a law certificate. "Now I feel comfortable accepting this job because I see myself as a hockey guy who is strong on the business side.

"I’ve really put in an effort to try and develop my hockey expertise. I just have a comfort level that I did not have back then."

Lou Lamoriello, the architect of three Stanley Cup championship teams with the New Jersey Devils, got to know Giguere through his friendship with Lacroix and said the Avalanche is in good hands.

Lamoriello, who the Devils’ chief executive officer, president, general manager and interim coach, was a sponsor a few years ago when Giguere went through the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.

Lamoriello said it was a good idea for Giguere to leave the Avalanche for the Stars in February 2002 to work for general manager Doug Armstrong and gain a different perspective.

"A general manager has to be able to understand and relate to what goes through the coaches’ minds, the scouts’ minds," he said in a telephone interview. "And certainly, in this day and age, the business aspect of it enters into a lot of those decisions. You have to have that knowledge of interaction from the hockey end of it.

"He was primarily utilized in the business aspect of it, which was needed, and sometimes you stay in that position because you do it so well. Then you go somewhere else and you grow in other areas."

Reminded Giguere has some big shoes to fill, Lamoriello said:

"Knowing Pierre, he’ll be an arm’s length away. I think this is a positive thing for Colorado in every direction. Where there are areas where he might need a little guidance, he’s got Pierre there. Francois knows Pierre and he would not have gone back and accepted this if he didn’t think he would be given the proper leeway to be able to establish his own identity. Quite frankly, I think it’s a great situation for all of them."

Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville is familiar with Giguere because he was an assistant for 21/2 years with Quebec and Colorado before becoming coach of the St.Louis Blues midway through the 1996-97 season.

"I know he’s an outstanding hockey guy, a real sharp guy," Quenneville said. "I think it’s a great opportunity for him, knowing he’s got the best mentor in the business right there. I’m looking forward to talking to Francois about our team and going forward."

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