Pierre McGuire

Regis Pierre McGuire[1] (born August 8, 1961) is an American-Canadian ice hockey executive who currently works for Sportsnet and last served as senior vice-president of player development for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously worked as a television analyst for NHL on NBC broadcasts in the United States and on The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada. McGuire has also been a player, coach and scout.

Pierre McGuire
McGuire in 2009
Born
Regis Pierre McGuire

(1961-08-08) August 8, 1961
Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
NationalityAmerican/Canadian
Alma materHobart College
OccupationIce hockey executive
SpouseMelanie
Children2
Parent(s)Rex McGuire
Sally McGuire

Early life

McGuire was born in Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey, the son of Rex, an Irish-American and Sally, a French-Canadian.[2][3][4][5] He grew up in the Montreal area, (Mount Royal, Westmount and Sainte-Adèle) and attended Lower Canada College.[5][6][7]

In 1977, his family moved to Cresskill, New Jersey, due to anti-anglophone sentiment in Montreal that made it difficult for McGuire's father Rex to run his car dealership.[8][9] McGuire attended Bergen Catholic High School where he played football and hockey.[8]

Playing career

McGuire was a standout hockey defenseman at Hobart College from 1979 to 1982. He also pitched for Hobart's baseball team and played quarterback on the football team for two years.[10] He was graduated from Hobart with an English degree.[5] After college, McGuire played one season of hockey in the Netherlands. In 1984, he attended the New Jersey Devils' training camp, but did not make the team.[7]

Coaching and scouting career

Early career and Pittsburgh Penguins

McGuire began his coaching career at his alma mater, Hobart College, in 1984.[10] He was paid $500 a season and made ends meet by working as a substitute English, math and physical education teacher in the Geneva, New York, school district.[11] In 1985, he was named assistant hockey and lacrosse coach at Babson College.[12] At Babson, he coached hockey under future New York Islanders head coach Steve Stirling.[10] After three seasons at Babson, he moved to St. Lawrence University, where he was an assistant hockey coach from 1988 to 1990. While at St. Lawrence, McGuire met Scotty Bowman, who frequently came to the school to visit his daughter. When Bowman became director of player development and recruitment for the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 12, 1990, he offered McGuire a job as a special assignment scout.[11][13][14] When Bowman became interim head coach in 1991, McGuire was named an assistant coach.[15] McGuire won a Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992.

Hartford Whalers

McGuire joined the Hartford Whalers on August 28, 1992, as an assistant coach and on September 8, 1993, became the team's assistant general manager.[16] On November 16, 1993, McGuire was named head coach of the Whalers, replacing Paul Holmgren, who had stepped aside due to frustration with a lack of effort from his players and a desire to focus on his role as the team's general manager.[17] At age 32, McGuire was the youngest head coach in the NHL. Prior to becoming coach of the Whalers, McGuire had never been a head coach at any level. During his six months as Whalers head coach, McGuire coached the team to a 23–37–7 record.[18] McGuire was fired as head coach on May 19, 1994. After the termination, captain Pat Verbeek called it the best thing that could have happened to the Whalers. He said his teammates had no respect for McGuire and that McGuire was mocked by other teams.[19][20] In 1995, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman ruled that McGuire would forfeit half of the remaining salary owed to him by the Whalers for providing confidential coaching evaluations to the Edmonton Oilers. These evaluations had been prepared while he was employed by Hartford.[21]

Later career

Following his departure from the Whalers, McGuire became a scout with the Ottawa Senators. On November 22, 1995, he was elevated to the position of assistant coach.[22] On January 23, 1996, McGuire was fired, along with head coach Dave Allison and goaltending coach Chico Resch.[23]

On August 27, 1996, McGuire was named the inaugural head coach of the ECHL's Baton Rouge Kingfish.[24] He was given a three-year contract. McGuire led the team to a 31–33–6 record and a seventh-place finish in the South Division. On July 12, 1997, McGuire exercised an escape clause in his contract to become the radio analyst for CJAD's broadcasts of Montreal Canadiens games.[25]

Broadcasting career

From 1997–98 until 2001–02, McGuire served as color commentator for the Montreal Canadiens' English-language radio broadcasts on CJAD 800 with Dino Sisto. He also worked on some of the team's regional television broadcasts on The Sports Network (TSN) when primary color analyst Gary Green was unavailable, and was a contributor to TSN's That's Hockey.

When TSN re-acquired the Canadian national cable rights to NHL hockey in 2002, McGuire was hired as its lead color commentator.[26] With TSN, McGuire called the games along with play-by-play announcer Gord Miller or Chris Cuthbert.[27] He also did special hockey events for TSN, including the NHL Entry Draft and international events like the IIHF World Junior Championships.[28] He additionally hosted a segment known as "McGuire's Monsters" where he covered a player with a significant impact through a combination of skills.

McGuire working for NBC during the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs.

McGuire joined NBC Sports after they acquired the rights to NHL games in 2006. There, he worked as an "Inside the Glass" reporter with the lead broadcast team of Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk.[29][30] Not only did he extended that role in TSN beginning in 2006,[31] but he also worked for both networks at the time, including the Ice Hockey - 2010 Winter Olympics.[32][33]

After the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, McGuire left TSN to work full time for NBC Sports, but he continues to appear on TSN Radio.[34] From 2018 to 2021, he rotated with Brian Boucher on the broadcast team for NBC Sports.[35][36][37]

McGuire also writes for Sports Illustrated and provides frequent commentary on New York's WFAN, Toronto's Sportsnet 590, Ottawa radio station, the Team 1200, the Ottawa Senators' fan podcast SensUnderground, and Montreal's TSN 690 where he can be heard on the Mitch Melnick show, the TEAM 1040 in Vancouver heard on the Canucks Lunch with Rick Ball,[38] as well as Wednesday mornings on Calgary's Fan 960.

Beyond hockey, McGuire served as a reporter for water polo at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics for NBC, working with his NHL colleague Mike Emrick at the London Games in 2012.

Management career

On July 12, 2021, the Ottawa Senators hired McGuire as the team's senior vice-president of player development.[39] The 59-year-old McGuire had gone nearly three full decades without a managerial job in the NHL. On May 9, 2022, it was announced that McGuire had been let go from this position.[40]

Stances on issues in hockey

McGuire has been outspoken as an advocate of removing the red line and allowing skilled players to play a skilled game without clutching and grabbing impeding them. His views of hockey have him campaigning for all players to wear partial visors. McGuire's outspoken nature provided one of the more interesting stories during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. After McGuire claimed that, if asked to vote privately, more than 70% of NHL players would accept an owner-imposed salary cap, NHL player Tie Domi countered that McGuire was completely off-base. McGuire later retracted part of his claim by saying he never should have given a percentage but that he still believed strongly that his assertion was true.[41] In the end, the players accepted a salary cap arrangement in the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement ratified in 2005.

Personal life

McGuire is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.[3] He has previously resided in Mount Royal, Quebec; Westmount, Quebec; Sainte-Adèle, Quebec; Cresskill, New Jersey; Alpine, New Jersey; Fort Lee, New Jersey; Hingham, Massachusetts; and Montreal. He currently lives in New Canaan, Connecticut.[4][7][10][25][42][43] He has been married twice and has two children, both by his second wife.[11][42]

Coaching record
TeamYearRegular seasonPostseason
GWLTOTLPtsFinishResult
HFD1993–94 6723377—(53)6th in NortheastMissed playoffs

References
  1. Finn, Chad (May 21, 2013). "Bruins are the Rangers' superiors". Boston.com. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  2. "Pierre McGuire – passionate about hockey and family". themontrealeronline.com. The Montrealer. October 1, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  3. Dellapina, John. "USA, Canada rivalry has evolved over time", National Hockey League, February 20, 2010. Accessed February 16, 2011. ""I think it really started to heat up when Gary Suter hit Wayne Gretzky from behind in the Canada Cup, said Pierre McGuire, the hockey analyst for NBC in the U.S. and TSN in Canada who was born in Englewood, N.J., now lives outside of Montreal and has split his life and citizenship between the two nations."
  4. Czerwinski, Mark J. (January 30, 2003). "Nice and Tough". The Record.
  5. Meagher, John (January 30, 2003). "McGuire tells it like it is". The Gazette.
  6. "Gambling in Canoe - Best Navigator to Online Casino Gaming". Gambling in Canoe. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  7. Hickey, Pat (February 3, 1994). "Return to Forum inspires McGuire". The Gazette.
  8. Dellapina, John (May 17, 1992). "Local Football Star Now Behind Pens' Bench". The Record.
  9. "Whalers Coach Has Local Ties". The Record. November 17, 1993.
  10. Gordon, Joe (November 18, 1993). "McGuire makes name for himself". The Boston Globe.
  11. Jacobs, Jeff (December 1, 1993). "If you ask McGuire, assist goes to Bowman". The Courant. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  12. Monahan, Bob (September 8, 1985). "Goalies Houghton, corliss Move On". The Boston Globe.
  13. Bernstein, Viv (August 27, 1992). "Mcguire Joining Whalers Staff". The Courant. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  14. Zizzo, Mike (November 28, 1993). "Hartford's Mcguire Has Come Long Way". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  15. "Transactions". The New York Times. October 2, 1991.
  16. "Franchise Timeline - Carolina Hurricanes - Team". Courant.com. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  17. Panaccio, Tim (November 17, 1993). "Holgren (sic) Quits As Whalers Coach". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  18. "Franchise Timeline - Carolina Hurricanes - Team". Hurricanes.nhl.com. Retrieved 2011-12-26.
  19. Jacobs, Jeff (May 21, 1994). "Mcguire's Tenure A Bad Situation". The Courant. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  20. "Whalers Fire Coach Mcguire". Chicago Tribune. May 20, 1994. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  21. Jacobs, Jeff (May 3, 1995). "Mcguire Takes A Loss". The Courant. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  22. "Senators name assistant coach". The Gazette. November 23, 1995.
  23. Ken Warren; Rick Mayoh; Bernard Potvin (January 24, 1996). "Senators fire Allison". The Ottawa Citizen.
  24. Lee, Feinswog (August 28, 1996). "Kingfish name McGuire". The Advocate.
  25. Hickey, Pat (July 12, 1997). "CJAD hires McGuire for Habs games radio & TV". The Gazette.
  26. Houston, William (2002-04-17). "Woman to anchor TSN's NHL games". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  27. Crouse, Karen (2010-02-26). "Narrating Canada's Quest for Gold in Men's Hockey". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  28. Houston, William (2007-12-22). "World junior tournament top priority for TSN". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  29. Halberstam, David J. (2019-05-21). "NBC's Pierre McGuire is the man in middle of it all; At NHL games, 'Inside the Glass' means heads-up!". Sports Broadcast Journal. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  30. Kreda, Allan (2017-04-15). "NBC's Fixture Between the Benches Begins His Playoff Sprint". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  31. Houston, William (2006-10-11). "Houston: TSN to break with tradition". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  32. Cousins, Ben. "Is Pierre McGuire Overstaying His Welcome In The Broadcast Booth?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  33. "NBC Goes Back Inside the Glass". Slap Shot. 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  34. "Pierre McGuire leaves TSN for Versus, NBC". National Post. June 27, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  35. "Report: Pierre McGuire removed from NBC's No. 1 NHL team in favor of Brian Boucher". Awful Announcing. September 4, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  36. Cowan, Stu (September 4, 2019). "NBC replacing Pierre McGuire on national NHL broadcasts: report". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  37. Haase, Taylor (2019-09-04). "Report: NBC Sports removes Pierre McGuire from No. 1 coverage team". DKPittsburghSports.com. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  38. "TEAM Radio | TEAM 1040 AM | TEAM 1410 AM | Home of the Canucks, Whitecaps FC and BC Lions". Team1040.ca. Archived from the original on 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2011-12-26.
  39. Garrioch, Bruce. "GARRIOCH: Melnyk calls McGuire a key piece of Sens' Stanley Cup drive". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved 12 Jul 2021.
  40. Jakubec, AJ [@TheSuperAJ] (9 May 2022). "Hearing Pierre McGuire has been fired by the Ottawa Senators. @TSNSteveLloyd has confirmed. #Sens" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 May 2022 – via Twitter.
  41. "Faceoff 2004-05: Lockout chronology". CBC Sports Online. July 13, 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
  42. Houston, William (October 8, 2003). "A straight shooter scores with fans". The Globe and Mail.
  43. "McGuire leaves TSN for gig with Versus and NBC". The Daily Gleaner. June 28, 2011.
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