It’s not summertime without a good book to read while relaxing on the beach or in a hammock. However, the book we’re going to talk about today isn’t due out until The Fall; October 15, 2024, to be precise. So maybe you should save some sand or find somewhere to hang that hammock indoors because this book is one that deserves the summertime treatment of reading it for hours without putting it down. 

Wow, we haven’t even told you the name of this book yet. Let’s rectify that. “The Franchise: The Business Of Building Winning Teams,” is Craig Custance’s newest book and one that is sure to capture the attention of hockey fans old and new. 

“Blittner’s Blue Line” caught up with Custance to talk about his latest tome and find out why readers should line up to purchase a copy.

“Anytime I’m pursuing a book, it has to be something I’m personally passionate about,” Custance explained. “In this case, it was learning how the best people in hockey manage their teams. I saw an opportunity to learn from people who I’ve been closely covering through my years as a National Hockey Writer. And also, along the way, hopefully learning some things about leadership and managing for my own career.”

“Learning how the best people in hockey manage their teams.” That’s quite an interesting topic and one that many hockey fans, writers, etc. debate on a near daily basis. Scroll through social media, pull up a hockey podcast, and turn on the radio or television, chances are, at some point, you’re going to hear/watch people talk about how they would run a team or how they think a team should be run. Sports Talk Shows were built on this type of debate and it’s one that’s never going to end. 

So who were some of the people Custance learned from during the process of writing this book?

Without naming everyone, Custance picked the brains of Julien BriseBois; Kyle Dubas; Brad Treliving; Tom Dundon; Ted Leonsis; Lou Lamoriello; Brian MacLellan; George McPhee; Kelly McCrimmon, and Bill Zito. That’s a breathtaking cast of General Managers, Team Presidents, and Team Owners. And that’s not even everyone he spoke to. 

“I’m fascinated by roster construction,” Custance said. “So there’s a lot of GMs involved in the book. Julien BriseBois is the first chapter and I think Julien was really fascinating because he’s not only won multiple Stanley Cups, but he’s done it from a path that’s non-traditional; in that he wasn’t a former player. So I was fascinated to learn from him how he got involved in hockey and how he runs the Tampa Bay Lightning. I mean look at the decisions he’s made. He can at times be very calculated and make difficult decisions, but he also has a huge track record of success.”

“I spent some time down in Tampa with Julien, including getting steamrolled by him in Pickleball,” Custance continued. “He’s a great athlete as it turns out. I also did another follow-up with him around The Trade Deadline, which is a fascinating time to meet with a GM; especially somebody like Julien, who’s generally really active at that time. I think I’m probably attracted to talking to those kinds of GMs who weren’t former players because they’ve had to take a different path. 

“Kyle Dubas was definitely in that group. To talk about some of the decision-making he had in leading the Toronto Maple Leafs — when we spent some time together — it’s a lot of the same questions that have come up with the team again. How long do you stick with the core and when do you make big changes? What are the processes that he went through to decide whether or not to do that? We got into all that in the book and I actually followed up with Brad Treliving after he got that job. There’s a chapter where I spent some time with Brad and asked very similar questions.”

Hey, Leafs fans, you might finally get some answers about your team. If that’s not reason enough for you to pick up this book then I don’t know what is. Although, personally, I might be more focused on trying to figure out how Julien BriseBois became so good at Pickleball. With how active of a GM he is I can’t imagine he has much time on his hands to play. Okay, that isn’t the point of what Custance is saying, so let’s move on. 

“One of the most fascinating times I spent was with Tom Dundon, who runs the Carolina Hurricanes in a way, probably different from anybody else in the ownership circles,” Custance explained. “If you follow what they do, he runs that team completely differently. So I spent a lot of time with him learning how he does it. In hockey, there’s a lot of different ways to get to success. I tried to find people doing it in different ways.”

“Winning The Stanley Cup is really hard,” Custance said. “So it’s interesting. There is a lot of information out there and because of that, I tried to balance this book and who I spent time with. I tried to get people who came from an analytics background. I tried to get people who were the former player type and I tried to get some folks who were old-school, who really were about building culture and doing things (that way). I spent time with Lou Lamoriello. I spent a day at his office. Then, we went to a really nice Italian dinner and I saw a side of Lou that I’d never seen before.”

Okay, hands up if you wish you could have been a fly on the wall while Custance and Lamoriello were at a nice Italian dinner. Lamoriello showing off a side he doesn’t normally expose to the public is one of those things that can only happen with a book like this. But, again, I digress. 

However, before we move on completely, there’s a story in the book about a General Manager who once risked his life to sign a player. 

“It was Lou Lamoriello,” Custance revealed. “When we talked about it, he said, he looks back and thinks of some things he did in building the Devils. It was pretty wild. These people are competitors and they’ll do whatever it takes to try to build winning teams. In his case, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that there were some decisions made where maybe they impeded his safety.”

Alright, I’m running to order this book. A Lamoriello story of that magnitude is well worth the price of a copy. 

We don’t want to spoil the book too much, but there’s one more topic we need to touch on. Custance says this tome is all about learning how to build a winning team. So, it’s only fair if we ask him what would be the first thing he would do if he were in charge of an NHL team.

“You have to build a great team,” Custance explained. “And multiple people in this book talked about how they were only as good as the team around them. When you’re managing a large group, it isn’t a one-person job. So, I would set out to build a great team and I would look to maybe promote somebody who I thought was on the verge of doing something great. Look at what The Florida Panthers have done. Bill Zito waited a long time to get that opportunity and he’s done an incredible job. So, I think my goal would be to try to identify that next person who I think is on the rise and ready to take the next step. In terms of the people I’ve talked to for this book, I think Meghan Duggan is an unbelievable leader. I spent time with her around the Development Camp in New Jersey. I think she’s gonna be a GM, probably sooner rather than later. If I was running a team, she would be one of the first calls I’d make.”

Speaking as somebody who has gotten to know Duggan a little bit, I have to say that Custance is right on the money with his assessment. And he’s right on the money with his new book, “The Franchise: The Business Of Building Winning Teams.” For those wishing to learn more about the book, you can go to https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Franchise/Craig-Custance/9781668035443