Is it time for Hockey Canada to create permanent positions for its national team?

Despite walking away with a second consecutive Olympic gold medal, Steve Yzerman's tenure as Team Canada's executive director appars to have ended with a dash of controversy. Yzerman indicated that he was finished with the position shortly after Canada finished off Sweden 3-0 in the gold medal game, and several hours later a report surfaced that claimed Martin St. Louis had requested a trade out of Tampa Bay upon learning he wasn't initially selected to the Canadian Olympic roster. St. Louis ended up replacing his Lightning teammate Steven Stamkos in the tournament, but not before his relationship with Yzerman reportedly took a hit. 

Nick Kypreos' report, whether accurate or not, raises some interesting debate over Team Canada and its current approach to filling management and coaching positions. Is it time for Hockey Canada to shed its practice of appointing active NHL coaches and executives to run the national team in favor of creating permanent positions?

Hockey Canada has leaned on active NHL executives and coaches since professional players first started participating in the Winter Games back in 1998. Bobby Clarke was general manager of Team Canada in Nagano while also serving as GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. Wayne Gretzky was a part owner and head of hockey operations in Phoenix when he took over in 2002, and also laid claim to the Coyotes head coaching duties when he ran Team Canada again in 2006. Yzerman held a position within the Detroit Red Wings organization when he took his first turn as executive director, and has served as GM of the Lightning since May of 2010. Leaving executive director duties up to active NHL management types leaves the door open for controversy, as evidenced by Kypreos' St. Louis report. 

With the Yzerman example, it's easy to see the bind he found himself in. There's a risk of fracturing relationships with his own team in Tampa by leaving the NHL reigning Art Ross Trophy winner off the Team Canada roster, which was the 38-year old St. Louis' last chance at playing in the Olympics, but there's also a risk of damaging one's credibility with the national program by appearing to play favorites. Thus it's almost a thankless position to be in despite the on-ice success of Team Canada in these last two Winter Games. 

The easy fix would be for Hockey Canada to take a page out of the Canadian Soccer Association's playbook and create permanent positions for both its executive director and head coach roles. It's not like there's never any experienced hockey coaches or executives out of an NHL gig and looking to pick up a new job, and one with quite a bit of importance attached to it. 

Creating permanent positions for Canada's national hockey team would be a task not without its challenges. The Olympics only take place every four years, but there's a great deal of international hockey played between each Winter Games. A full-time executive director and head coach would see a great deal of turnover between tournaments like the Spengler Cup, World Championships, and eventually the Olympics. There's unique challenges between asking the likes of Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Getzlaf, et al to sacrifice offense in favor of more of shutdown style of play versus the best in the world and requiring a similar swap of roles for those NHL and other professional players who end up representing Canada in lesser celebrated tournaments. Any potential candidates for such positions with Hockey Canada would have to show a propensity to adapt to an ever-changing talent pool with which to draw players from. 

Of course, it's not as though Hockey Canada's current model hasn't lived up to expectations. A shift to creating permanent positions for the national team is an avenue worth exploring, though. It's time to take a look at the viability of new model that offers consistency behind the bench and up above in the executive suites.