Brendan Shanahan, who has held the position of NHL senior vice-president of player safety for the past two years, reportedly had dinner with Calgary Flames president and CEO Ken King on Friday.
Bob McKenzie of TSN reported on Twitter this evening that, while no job offer was made, there was a discussion.
This follows a pair of tweets yesterday from Bruce Dowbiggin, a well-known veteran sports journalist and author.
Question w/ Flames is will Jay Feaster get chance to do rebuild. Hearing big changes at Saddledome w/news on new arena imminent. (1)
— Bruce Dowbiggin (@dowbboy) June 14, 2013
Hearing new head of hockey ops to Flames. Sources say high-profile NHL exec in line to replace Ken King who moves to arena project. (2)
— Bruce Dowbiggin (@dowbboy) June 14, 2013
Shanahan, who played 1,524 regular season games throughout the course of his NHL career, has, the last two years, been tasked with handing out supplemental discipline for the NHL.
Accompanying the role has been the moniker of Sheriff Shanahan. Could he be on his horse out west to Calgary?
Update (9:43 p.m. ET):
From the Globe and Mail:
While a job offer was not extended to Shanahan, there was a discussion of what his role would be in “a major restructuring of the team’s front office,” according to a source.
What was outlined was as follows: Ken King would step down as team president and CEO to lead the Flames’ pursuit of a new arena; Shanahan would come aboard as director of hockey operations and would be allowed to hire his own people.
That, essentially, would position Shanahan as Jay Feaster’s boss.