Ferreira Leaves Ducks for Thrashers

Jack Ferreira, who built the expansion Mighty Ducks into winners after only four seasons as general manager, accepted a job Thursday as director of player personnel with the Atlanta Thrashers.

Only the day and destination were surprises.

Ferreira’s role with the Ducks had diminished greatly since Pierre Gauthier was hired as team president and general manager to restore stability to the organization during the turbulent summer of 1998. Ferreira’s official title the last two seasons was vice president of hockey operations, but he acted merely as a “super scout” for the Ducks. Gauthier made all the key moves for the organization.

No replacement was named, but the New York Post has reported the Ducks have hired Neil Smith, former general manager of the New York Rangers, as a consultant to Gauthier.

“Jack did a great job for the franchise,” Gauthier said of his longtime friend and associate. “From the get-go this has been a very exciting franchise. We’ve been a success story from Day 1 and Jack contributed to all of that. On behalf of the ownership and everybody involved in the organization I’d like to offer thanks to Jack for all he did.”

In the final analysis, Ferreira’s clumsy firing of Ron Wilson as coach in May 1997, and the disastrous season that followed, will probably overshadow his many deft dealings in getting the franchise up and running and into the Stanley Cup playoffs in such short order.

Indeed, the spring of ’97 marked the high and low points of the franchise. Only weeks after a remarkable run to the second round of the playoffs, Ferreira stood in front of reporters to announce the unthinkable: The glib Wilson would not be back to coach a fifth season.

After four seasons building the organization’s credibility by drafting standout youngsters such as left wing Paul Kariya and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky and trading for high-scoring winger Teemu Selanne, Ferreira’s decision to sack Wilson torpedoed all he accomplished.

The honeymoon was over, and many blamed Ferreira and Disney sports chief Tony Tavares. Ferreira and Tavares made the move seem all the more perplexing by failing to explain precisely why Wilson was dismissed.

Compounding matters was Ferreira’s statement that “we could have won the Stanley Cup and this decision still would have been made.” It reinforced a widely held notion that the firing was a knee-jerk personal move rather than a calm, cool and collected business decision. The relationship between the team and its fans has not been the same since Wilson was fired.

It seemed Ferreira could do nothing right in the wake of Wilson’s firing. He hired Pierre Page, who worked with him in Calgary and Minnesota, but the Ducks nose-dived from fourth in the NHL’s Western Conference to 12th and out of the playoffs with a 26-43-13 record.

Ferreira also struggled to re-sign Kariya, who missed the season’s first 32 games before an agreement was reached.

What’s more, Kariya played only 22 games in 1997-98 before suffering a season-ending concussion, the result of a cross-check to his jaw from Chicago’s Gary Suter a split second after Kariya had scored a goal in a Feb. 1 game.

Without Kariya, their captain and top player, the Ducks sank toward the bottom of the conference standings. Ferreira, trying to salvage something for the future, traded several key veterans in a belated youth movement in the season’s final months.

Ferreira was then forced to fire Page and his assistants in a move most observers believed was merely a desperate attempt to keep his job.

Meanwhile, Gauthier abruptly quit as general manager of the Ottawa Senators, citing personal reasons for his departure. Gauthier also said he had no intention of replacing his good friend Ferreira as general manager in Anaheim, but after only a few weeks that’s what happened.

Tavares, with the blessing of Disney chairman Michael Eisner, added the title of general manager to Gauthier’s job of team president. As it turned out, it was a successful move to streamline management and put the organization on the right track after a yearlong public relations nightmare.

Ferreira, 56, was given a new title and new duties far from the glare of the spotlight. He was out of sight and out of mind, as far as many were concerned. However, he was still a fixture in press boxes around the league, although he rarely visited the Arrowhead Pond last season.

Ferreira appeared more at ease with reporters in chance meetings than he had been in his previous job. In five seasons as general manager, he had earned the nickname “Grumpy Jack” from reporters who were often greeted with snarling replies to even the most mundane questions.

That’s all in the past now as he joined Atlanta General Manager Don Waddell, who ran the Ducks’ minor-league affiliate in San Diego in the franchise’s first few seasons.

“It’s a great opportunity for him,” Gauthier said. “Atlanta called us. Jack knows Don Waddell from his San Diego days. . . . That’s hockey.”