Resignation of longtime scout more telling than Selwood's departure
May 11, 2008 - 04:00 AM
By Brian McNair
In a week that saw the Oshawa Generals fire their general manager and get sued by their former president, it was something far the less obvious that stood out as most disturbing.
And perhaps most telling.
Gil Hughes, who had been with the team for so long he couldn't place a number on it, resigned following Saturday's Ontario Hockey League draft.
Hardly surprisingly to those who know him, he didn't leave the team high and dry and call it quits long before the draft, no matter how tempted he might have been.
Rather, as he has done for more than 25 years now, he offered the invaluable insight gleaned from countless hours spent in the rinks over the previous eight months.
Hughes is an Oshawa boy through and through. Now 75, he's been a part of the Generals organization through thick and thin, working under numerous coaches and general managers.
But apparently he could take no more.
Citing loyalty to Selwood and head scout Rob Honighan, whose contract was not going to be renewed, Hughes had some uncharacteristically caustic comments regarding the ownership tandem of John Davies and Rocco Tullio.
"I've been in hockey for many years, probably a thousand, but I just question whether the owners actually have a real pulse of what goes on with a hockey team with some of the decisions they make," Hughes said when asked why he resigned.
"There's been some things that have happened with the hockey club, not just this particular thing, but other things too that I have not been happy about," he said, pointing to the dismissal of president Trish Campbell as an example. "When you put it all in a nice little bundle, it's just kind of time for me to resign."
Davies was caught by surprise when first informed that Hughes and three other scouts, had followed Honighan out the door. But he later said, while he didn't want to see them leave, it didn't bother him either.
It should have.
Selwood, speaking a day before he was fired, was much more accurate in his assessment that losing Hughes was like losing a piece of the Generals' logo.
It's hard to look at the Generals' current state of affairs as anything but a mess and that has nothing to do with Selwood's dismissal.
Allegations in the Campbell lawsuit, not yet proven in court, paint an ugly picture of corporate dysfunction even if remotely true.
Changes have occurred fast and furious this past year as it appears Tullio's influence continues to grow.
Both owners talk a good game of leading the Generals to the top of the Ontario Hockey League, both in the standings and in reputation.
But watching someone of Hughes's ilk walk away certainly makes one wonder.
Brian McNair's column runs every third Sunday. E-mail him at bmcnair@durhamregion.com
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