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The word around the Hub has put current assistant general manager of five years Don Sweeney as the frontrunner for the recently vacated job of general manager of the Boston Bruins.
But the Black and Gold higher-ups (namely team president Cam Neely and CEO Charlie Jacobs) wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they didn’t see what else was out there on the open market as they continue their search for the franchise’s eighth general manager. And with interviews with Nashville Predators assistant general manager Paul Fenton and former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero on tap this week, a new-but-familiar name has emerged: Jeff Gorton.
And if that name rings a bell, it’s because Gorton, a Melrose, Mass. native, served as Boston’s interim general manager in the three months between the Mike O’Connell firing and Peter Chiarelli hiring.
It was a hell of a three months for Gorton though.
During Gorton’s tenure with the Bruins, he traded Andrew Raycroft to Toronto for then-prospect Tuukka Rask, and was in charge of the 2006 NHL Draft that brought Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, and Brad Marchand to the Black and Gold. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci were also drafted during Gorton’s tenure with the B’s, albeit with Gorton as an assistant general manager. He was also the general manager when the club signed Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard.
So, yeah, he did alright.
After his dismissal from the Bruins, Gorton moved on to become the assistant general manager with the New York Rangers, where he has served under Glen Sather for the last nine years. And although it’s widely believed that Gorton is the heir apparent to Sather when he does indeed retire, a push by the Bruins to bring the hometown boy back to Boston in a solidified role does have its appeal.
At 72, Sather’s retirement seems sooner than later, but there’s been little word from the Rangers’ GM of 15 years that seems to indicate that it’s around the corner. That puts Gorton in a tricky spot.
But if the Bruins do indeed get the permission they desire to speak to him for their job, a strong pitch from the hometown Bruins, the organization Gorton broke into the league with, could change that plan.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com