Tiki Barber was flying solo in the midday Thursday, and got a chance to talk about some huge news in the NHL: Mike Grier, who spent the last year-plus as a hockey operations advisor for the New York Rangers, was hired Wednesday by the San Jose Sharks as their new general manager, becoming the first black GM in NHL history.
Grier has a long history in the NHL, playing 14 years in the league with four different teams and serving as a scout, assistant coach, and front office executive – but many minorities don’t get much if any of that experience, and the significance of the hire wasn’t lost on Barber.
“It forced me to look at the growth of black players in the NHL, and I don’t know if it’s grown significantly, because according to a USA Today study, 97 percent of the NHL is white, so this was great news to hear,” Tiki said.
That study, published in 2019, noted that of the other three percent of the league, only 26 of those players were black, with 20 of those players hailing from Canada and six of them African-American.
Grier would have been in the latter, as he hails from Detroit, and he’s not the only trailblazer in his family: his brother, Chris, is the GM of the Miami Dolphins. Tiki discussed those family ties, and noted how for Chris and the NFL, the Rooney Rule is the most visible example of any sport taking the initiative to make sure minority candidates are identified for key leadership roles.
“We hear about this in the NFL all the time with executives and coaches of color being included and interviewed so they get the opportunity to ascend to important roles,” Tiki said, “and now, the NHL, which has long been a mostly-white sport, has its first black general manager – and it’s crazy that he has a brother who is a black general manager in the NFL.”
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Sharks team president Jonathan Becher told Grier at his introductory press conference that he hopes the new GM “serves as an inspiration to lots of people, and that you're the first and certainly not the last.”
Tiki, too, was hopeful that the NHL can continue to diversify, but for now, he’s incredibly happy for the Grier family.
“It’s starting to get more diverse, but you don’t think of blacks in hockey,” Tiki said, “but talk about a great family – those guys both achieved to the highest level.”
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