The Kamloops Blazers will be looking for a new general manager, as Matt Bardsley has announced he will be resigning.
Bardsley has been the team’s GM since June 1, 2018, and will transition over the coming weeks.
“When we moved here in 2018, we planned on making this our home for many years. Unfortunately because of COVID-19, it has restricted our ability to see our family as they reside in the United States,” Bardsley says in a news release.
He says he’s proud of what the team has accomplished over the past three seasons. The Blazers won the B.C. Division in each of the past two seasons, both of which did not have playoffs because of the pandemic. And in Bardsley’s first season, 2018-19, the Blazers clinched a playoff spot after a tie-breaker game against Kelowna, before losing to Victoria in the first round.
The 49-year-old Bardsley was born in California and has family in the Portland area. Before moving to Kamloops, he spent 18 years working in the Portland Winterhawks organization.
“I am disappointed to have to leave this special group of players, coaches and staff, but feel confident they will continue to achieve great success individually and as a team going forward,” Bardsley says. “Kamloops will always be a special place for us.”
Under Bardsley, the Blazers have drafted current players including Connor Levis, Mats Lindgren, Dylan Ernst, Fraser Minten and Vaughn Watterodt. Both Levis and Lindgren were first-round picks who were committed to NCAA colleges, but both chose to walk away from those commitments to play for the Blazers.
He was responsible for the trade to acquire Zane Franklin from Lethbridge in July of 2018, along with a fourth-round 2020 draft pick, for Jackson Shepard. Franklin had 159 points in 131 games as a Blazer. Bardsley also added veterans Ryan Hughes from Saskatoon and Max Martin from Prince Albert in separate trades early into the 2019-20 season. Both Hughes and Martin were point-per-game players in their lone season in Kamloops.
Blazers president and chief operating officer Don Moores says the team is saddened for Bardsley to be leaving but that the team respects his decision, saying he understands challenges brought on by the pandemic with family on both sides of the border.
“We wish Matt and his young family all the best in the future,” Moores says.
NL’s Jon Keen spoke with both Bardsley and Moores on today’s news. You can hear both interviews below.
