Chiefs continue reshuffling

The Spokane Chiefs added a scout and subtracted an assistant coach on Thursday, hoping that their “new math” will equal more victories.

A day after naming Bill Peters as its head coach, Spokane announced two more significant moves in its efforts to turn around the flagging Western Hockey League franchise.

The Chiefs first made official a long-anticipated move that will see longtime Director of Player Development Ray Dudra assume a lower profile in the front office.

Dudra, 61, will remain active with the team, but will now report to Chris Moulton, most recently the No. 2 scout with the Calgary Hitmen.

Moulton, 33, will fill the new position of Director of Scouting/Director of Player Personnel in a restructured front office. He will report directly to General Manager Tim Speltz.

In addition, Peters and Speltz selected Kevin Sawyer as the lone assistant to serve on this year’s staff. Spokane had two assistants last year, Sawyer and Rikard Gronborg (whose contract expired May 31).

The combination of moves is intended to help the Chiefs improve on their last-place finish in the U.S. Division of the Western Conference.

The hiring of Moulton should have the most direct effect over time, but the results of player development decisions are often not seen for years down the line.

Dudra informed Speltz at the end of the season, in their annual evaluation, that he wanted to cut back on his duties. Both agreed that Moulton was a man to be pursued.

“When you run around the country, you get an opportunity to spend a lot of time with people from different organizations, get a chance to talk to people,” said Dudra. “All of them had good things to say about Chris.

“He’s an energetic young person and their organization has had some success. When that happens, you’d like to think the scout has been a good part of that.”

Dudra and Moulton both spoke of getting Spokane “to that next level,” one which it formerly occupied. Without assigning blame, Dudra said he felt the personnel has been adequate the past two seasons “but, for whatever reason, we just couldn’t find a way to take that extra step to compete with the right teams.”

Moulton and Dudra painted the new front-office scenario of “two heads being better than one.” Both will help determine draft prospects.

Moulton said it is up to Peters to tell the front office if he has the players he needs to be successful. Last season, some of Spokane’s fans got on Conroy, who in turn implied he didn’t have the players he needed to compete at a higher level.

“I know the fans have had their concerns for a while,” said Moulton. “Coaches and GMs do their best to put a winning team on the ice. Tim’s done some things off the ice – and the hiring of Peters is a huge step.”

At Calgary, Moulton was with the team when it came into existence as an expansion franchise 10 years ago. Since then, the Hitmen have had a successful record of drafting and developing National Hockey League-caliber players. Calgary had four players drafted last year.

The assistant coach decision will have a more immediate effect on a team which returns 21 players.

“Having to choose between Rikard and Kevin was a very difficult decision to make,” Peters said of Sawyer, 31, a former Chiefs captain who returned last season as an assistant to Al Conroy. “They are both very qualified, but I felt that Kevin offers what I don’t have – WHL and professional playing experience.”

Sawyer was unavailable for comment, but had previously said he wasn’t interested in the head coaching position and wanted to stay on as an assistant. Gronborg put his name into consideration for the head coaching job but wasn’t a finalist.

Speltz said Wednesday he would be consulted by Peters on the assistant decision and indicated his support for the one made on Thursday.