Want to know how far I've come in building the Columbus Blue Jackets?

The first day on the job, my office basically had a notepad and a pencil.

How I got here

The day after I was let go in Florida, I got a call from someone I had met at a golf tournament. He said he worked for a steel company and that I'd be a great fit for his owner, who had just bought an NHL team. He gave me his phone number. So, the day after that, I phoned the owner, and told him who I was. He said, "I know who you are. I was in Florida when you got fired. I've been watching the papers." We got together for lunch -- it was a three-hour lunch -- and it happened pretty quickly after that. It wasn't announced too soon after, but I knew what was going on. I felt when I got fired that I might not ever get another job, and it wasn't a very good feeling. Bill Clement hooked me up with ESPN, and I did a few games as an analyst. And I felt very good about getting chance to do that and really appreciated it. You never feel good when you get fired, but when I got offered the Columbus thing soon after, it made me feel relieved for one but also excited to start something from scratch. To become president as well as GM and report to the owner has been an unbelievably gratifying experience.

Right away, I started looking at media guides trying to figure out how to build an organization, at least what the titles were for people. I used to sit and do line combinations, and here I was trying to build an organizational chart. I'd say, "Oh, I need a VP of Corporate, VP of Business Operations, I need a CFO" and went from there.

I had a general idea of how to put it together, but it was an on-your-feet learning process.

When we got to opening night, it was special. I had about 50 family and friends there and got to fly my parents up from Prince Edward Island. But as soon as the game started, of course, I got ticked off at how our team was playing.

There's certainly not an air of confidence about me right now, I'll tell you that. But I'm relatively pleased with what's going on despite our tough start when I thought we should have won a couple more games early on that we didn't win. But since then, we've won a couple, obviously, that we probably shouldn't have won. I think it balances out.

There's some pretty good gratification when watching the team. When you start signing players in May, and you're competing in September against the elite teams in the league and can play with them, compete with them, that's gratifying.

But I see every day when good teams struggle, so you can never get too carried away with expectations because an injury here or there can change your fortunes overnight. So, I guess I'm never one to get too far ahead.

I read about some people who have five-year plans, and I have to tell you, I'm on a day-to-day plan most of the time.