Visiting the Office of...Kirklan Lycar

2023-01-28

Welcome once again to ""Visiting the Office Of..." an interview series that goes behind the scenes with the general managers of the Elite Hockey Experience.

This time around we had a chat with Kirklan Lycar, architect of the 2018 Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche, and two-time recipient of the Lindsay Award as the EHE's top-performing general manager.

Enjoy!

So Kirklan, how and when did you join the Elite Hockey Experience? Had you been involved with sim hockey before?

It was fall of 2016, I want to say about 10 games into the EHE season. I was 19 at the time. I had actually just requested a trade from my junior team and was at home awaiting the move. I believe it was about 3 weeks before the trade happened and as a result of being bored (plus being a hockey nerd) I spent an evening scouring the web for a good sim league. I had never been apart of sim hockey but my dad was apart of a league years ago, so I had a bit of back ground on what Simon T was. Sent in an application and have been apart of the league ever since.

What kind of situation did you walk into for your first season in the general manager's chair with the Avs?

When I took over, the Avs were a playoff team, but not quite a cup contender with the way the roster was constructed. Having a good core and a few good prospects, I decided I wanted to go all in and make a run. I brought in Brent Burns and Brad Marchand that season and was fortunate enough to make it to the Cup finals before being swept by Jameson’s Sens. I was incredibly sour at that point but in hindsight, was a great start to my sim career. And really set the stage for the next season.

Obviously making that run to the 2017 Cup Final was a huge achievement, but the big prize came a season later when you took home the Stanley Cup. Was there something in particular about that 2018 team that got them over the hump after falling just short the year before?

Great question. I remember reflecting on that at the time, and in analyzing the two squads, funny enough; the team that lost in the finals was probably better on paper. Having said that, two things stand out to me.

First, I put more of an emphasis on leadership and experience ratings, at the deadline I brought in Alex Burrows and although he played limited minutes on my fourth line, he made a massive impact in the room.

Second, I think just a pure hunger and resiliency from our squad that we probably didn’t have the year prior, no matter the situation we were calm and collected. We came back from a 2-0 deficit in the second round and then a 3-1 deficit against Vegas in the conference finals.

The celebrations must have been something else—any stories that are fit to be told in public?

Oh god, yeah. So it was the week of my 21st birthday and I was at Country Fest, a music festival we have here in Manitoba. Luke Combs was opening for Eric Church that night and honestly one of the best live music experiences of my life, despite remembering very little. The funny part is no one knew what the fuck I was celebrating, I just kept chugging beers telling my buddies “I’m a cup champ!” I want to say I went to bed around 8 am the next day.

In 2019 you faced the Minnesota Wild in the playoffs for the third straight year, and they derailed your hopes of a Cup repeat in the first round. Not only that, but it looks like the Avs and Wild could be battling for a playoff spot this season. Any bad blood between the Mile High City and the Twin Cities?

None at all, I love Harry and have a ton of respect for him. On the ice, I suppose a bit of animosity just given how often we meet. The Wild were definitely a thorn in the side for those Avalanche cup squads. Always posed challenges for us and then ultimately ending our shot at going back to back.

You coined maybe the most famous catchphrase the EHE has ever had: "Prospects are cool. Parades are cooler." With a Stanley Cup championship under your belt it's probably safe to say you stand by that sentiment. But with your organization now undertaking something of a youth movement, has it altered your perspective at all?

I have to say, I didn’t think that one would have as much traction and longevity as it’s had over the years. Fortunate enough to have one parade, I think without winning I probably would’ve cancelled the trademark by now.

Jokes aside, has my perspective changed? No, but I’ve been reminded by the sim and hockey gods that the saying only works when you actually have prospects to move. No secret the cupboards were really bare here, and by design. I’ve basically gone for it all every year since I took over the team, and doing that has consequences when it comes to your prospect and draft pick pipeline.

I feel as though I’ve matured as a general manager, over the years so maybe a slight philosophical shift, but ultimately no I’ll take the parade any day over the prospects.

On that note, you've gone back and forth on what to call your current off-ice plan, sometimes using the word "rebuild," other times pointedly preferring the term "reload." In the end, the label doesn't actually matter much though, with the real question being: do you think your team can still get back to Cup contender status on a "reloading" timeline as opposed to a "rebuilding" one?

Absolutely, yes. I think in this league winning really loves speed and there are opportunities left right and centre to improve your team if you’re aware enough to look in the right places and have the right conversations. The last thing you can be is asleep at the wheel. Going into last season I had no first rounder and my prospect pipeline was literally three players plus Zachary Lauzon who retired in 2019. In a few months I managed to turn that into making 4 first round selections this past summer and 8 picks total in the first 80 selections.

Totally unrelated of course, but what are your thoughts on Connor Bedard? Seems like he's alright at this whole "hockey" thing. Might even look good in an Avalanche jersey...

I’d like to preface with, I’m not a crazy person, I’m just romantic about the game.

I’ll put it to you like this, and I’m not making this up. the feeling I get inside of me when I watch him play, is border line indescribable. I think it’s almost euphoric. The only time I can explain a similar feeling or something close was when I first fell in love with hockey as a 7 year old watching 17 year old Sidney Crosby in Rimouski. A true generational talent, whoever wins the lottery this year will be ecstatic.

You recently replaced head coach Jeff Blashill with Jim Montgomery, making it five coaches in six seasons since you took the reins in Colorado. Is there something specific you look for to tell you when it's time to make a change behind the bench?

Ah, the hard hitting questions now.

Yeah so Marc Crawford won the cup for us, Jared Bednar was our farm coach and at the time in real life was coming onto the scene in Colorado, I wanted to promote him before we lost him. Got off to a really bad start the 2019/2020 season and Mike Sullivan was available plus I’m a massive Crosby fan so I moved on from Bednar to bring in Sully. Last season didn’t go as planned to start, I thought Blashill was going to be a staple for Stevie Y and the Wings rebuild, guessed wrong. When Jim Montgomery was available given the year he’s having, it was a no brainer to move on from Blashill who may or may not ever get a head coaching gig in the NHL again. A great assistant, but maybe not a head coach.

That was a bit long winded, but back to the question - I’d say it’s been mainly circumstance up to this point. We are really looking forward to a long fruitful tenure with Jim Montgomery at the helm. In an ideal world he’s our coach for the next 20 seasons and brings us 6 Stanley Cups.

You've been at the center of some massive trades over the years, but in terms of star power the biggest might have been the Tavares-for-Hughes deal with the Rangers in the fall of 2020. How do you look back on that trade? What did it mean for your franchise back then, and what does it mean now?

I guess at the time it was really a changing of the guard for us, I had to figure out a way to compete with what Bacon was building in Dallas, plus the two headed monster in Nashville. The central was a blood bath and I just thought a change was in order.

What does it mean now? Very little as none of the players acquired are with our team now. I think what it means to me now is a bit of a lesson learnt. Definitely that period of time for me as a GM taught me a lot of hard lessons.

Are there any non-blockbuster trades you've made in your time as GM that you're especially happy with?

Certainly, sometimes the small ones are actually more memorable than the large ones. A few that stick out for me would be Acquiring Brian Dumoulin for Colin White, Dumo was instrumental defensively in our cup run. Traded Ghostibehere for Nuge, RNH was the perfect third line center for me in our cup run. The most recent one, which could be franchise changing was trading Anthony Mantha for a prospect and a 1st rounder which I used to take Lane Hutson with.

Any trades you wish you could take back?

Of course. I try not to have too many regrets though and think mainly I just aim to make the best decisions possible with the information you have at the given time.

The one that stands out though was moving the rights to Kirill Kaprizov for Brett Howden. At the time Kaprizov was ~3 years away from coming over meaning at least 4 years before being EHE relevant, plus you just never know with Russians (Gusev, Shipachyev to name a couple) and Howden was about to play his rookie season in the NHL, being a first round pick plus a childhood friend I was slightly more optimistic. That one stings, thanks Brett.

Last spring, you publicly stated that you want the Colorado Eagles to be "a fixture in the AHL moving forward." Where do you stand on your farm team this season, and how do you like their Calder Cup chances?

Things are looking good. The team is off to one of the best starts we’ve ever had. We just added Jayson Megna back to the squad, he was claimed earlier and we reclaimed him. Megs will be huge for our forward group, I’d say that’s the one area of our team where we lacked a bit of that veteran experience. In net we have Dustin (Tokarski) who is providing not only great goaltending but leadership, and then the back end; I can’t say enough about captain Tommy Cross and what he brings to our squad, top to bottom I think our d core is one of the best in the AHL. Excited to see where this team goes.

What advice would you give to a GM just starting out in the EHE?

It’s actually interesting, me and Cole were talking last week about how nice it is having a “buddy” in the league and how it must be hard for new guys coming in without a friend to lean on. On top of Batesy I consider probably at least 8-10 gms to be personal friends who I talk to daily, be it about life, trade talk or the league in general. So with that said, be available, have as much dialogue as possible, make friends and ask a ton of questions. The best part about the group of Gms we have in this league is that everyone is always willing to give a helping hand, so use that to your advantage.

On the communication side of things, just communicate - nothing is more annoying than trying to engage in talks with a guy and being on the receiving end of either being ignored or hit with the dry “no thanks” a no is fine, and I get hit up with wild offers that I may not like and say no to all the time; but I always will at-least give a reasoning as to why, I think it’s much warmer and also gives you a better idea of where a person stands on said player being discussed versus just “no thanks.”

Lastly, we all inevitably will from time to time “feel the wrath of Kev” but try not to get on the commissioners bad side. Haha.

Grab your crystal ball and look at the Avalanche organization three years from now. What do you see?

Prospects are cool, parades are cooler.

That's gotta be the perfect place to end off. Kirklan, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions, and good luck the rest of the way this season!

Anytime Kyle, appreciate it! Best of luck to you and the Isles.Cheers!