What was your sales pitch and vision for the AHL in 1994?
"We needed to differentiate ourselves from the (International Hockey League, the main competitor at the time). We needed to build on the strengths of the American league, and the strengths of the American league were in player development. We needed to build on the fact that we had significant NHL ownership in our league and we had to create something that was attractive to every NHL team as a development location.
"The other piece of it was that we had (16) teams at the time. We had an awful lot of them that had a shelf life financially by the looks of how things were trending early. We needed to strengthen our league in terms of the number of teams in the league, the quality of ownership in the league, and the quality of the markets. We needed to get a critical mass of NHL teams moving their affiliates back to the American league. We needed to have a perception that we were a league on the move forward."
Scott Howson will replace you. What makes him the correct choice in your mind?
"The depth of his experience. Scott has been in and around the American league for 25 years. He understands the league. He knows the people involved very well. He's also a person of great integrity. We have pretty different personalities. I think he'll be very different in terms of how he approaches things and how he interacts with our board members. [He is] very quiet by nature and very, very thoughtful."
You and Hockey Hall of Fame member Jack Butterfield are the two people who have led the AHL since 1966. How did he influence you, and how will that shape the transition to Scott?
"I can say that once I took over, [Butterfield] set an example that I hope I'm going to be able to follow with Scott. When he handed me the reins after all the years he'd been president, he certainly never publicly second-guessed me, and I don't know that he [did privately]. This is going to be difficult to do because I've been doing this a long time. I do have opinions, so it's going to be difficult. But it won't be difficult because I know that when I came in, if Jack had been [looking] over my shoulder, it would have been very awkward and uncomfortable.
"I'm going to be there for Scott whenever he needs it and with whatever help he needs, and I know he's going to need some. But at the same time it's going to be when he needs help, not when I think he needs help. So I had that opportunity when I took over, and Scott's going to get the same opportunity, and I'm going to make sure that I don't do the wrong thing."