Craig J. Button (born January 3, 1963) is currently a

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

analyst for TSN and a former

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) executive.

Early life and hockey family

Born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, Button entered the world of hockey at birth. His father, Jack Button, was an executive with the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, ...

, and his mother, Bridget, was the secretary to long-time

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

' General Manager and Head Coach and Hockey Hall of Fame member George "Punch" Imlach. Jack held executive positions at the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

before embarking on an extensive career as an NHL executive. Button's brother Tod was an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals and is currently the Director of Scouting with the Calgary Flames. The Button family moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1975 when Jack was hired by NHL President

Clarence Campbell Clarence Sutherland Campbell, (July 9, 1905 – June 24, 1984) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, referee, and soldier. He refereed in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1930s, served in the Canadian Army during World War II, th ...

to institute and manage the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. Button served as the head coach of the Israeli Under-18 Junior hockey team. Button graduated from Riverdale High School in

Pierrefonds, Quebec Pierrefonds () is a former city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located along the Rivière des Prairies on the northwestern part of the Island of Montreal. It was merged into Montreal on January 1, 2002, and is today part of the borough of ...

in 1980 and obtained his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

from Concordia University, Montreal, in 1987.

Career

Early career with Minnesota North Stars and Dallas Stars

Button began his NHL management career in 1988 with the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

. He was the Director of Scouting for

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

1992–98, Director of Player Personnel for Dallas Stars 1998–2000. During this time, Button worked for hockey legends Bobby Clarke and

Bob Gainey Robert Michael Gainey (born December 13, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 until 1989. After retiring from active play, he became a hockey coach and later an executive wit ...

. While with the Stars, the team participated in two Stanley Cup Finals, winning in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, and were recipients of the Presidents Trophy on two occasions. The list of players drafted during his tenure include

Derian Hatcher Derian John Hatcher (born June 4, 1972) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers. He ...

Jere Lehtinen Jere Kalervo Lehtinen (born June 24, 1973) is a Finland, Finnish former professional ice hockey forward (ice hockey), forward. A winger (ice hockey), right winger, he was drafted in the third round, 88th overall, in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the ...

Jamie Langenbrunner Jamie Craig Langenbrunner (; born July 24, 1975) is an American former professional ice hockey player. Langenbrunner was formerly the captain of the 2010 United States Olympic Team, a member of the 1999 Dallas Stars' Stanley Cup championship ...

Marty Turco Marty Vincent Turco (born August 13, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played nine seasons with the Dallas Stars and one season each with the Chicago Blackha ...

Jarome Iginla Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla (; born July 1, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger. He played over 1500 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Br ...

and Brenden Morrow.

Calgary Flames

He replaced Al Coates as the Vice President and

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

in 2000. Button's tenure as Flames general manager produced mixed results. While he was a guiding force for the Flames' primary development team

Saint John Flames The Saint John Flames were a Canadian ice hockey team in the American Hockey League from 1993 to 2003 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The Calgary Flames bought and relocated the Utica Devils, to be their AHL affiliate. History The Saint J ...

of the

when they captured the

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its cur ...

championship in 2001, his moves for the Flames roster didn't have the same impact. Button put future Hall of Famer,

Martin St. Louis Martin St. Louis (French spelling Martin St-Louis, ; born June 18, 1975) is a Canadian hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He is the current head coach of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). An undraf ...

on waivers, who left the team and signed with the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

as a free agent. Button also traded away promising young goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere to the

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Mighty may refer to: * ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album) * ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album) * ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film *'' The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film * ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title * ...

in exchange for a second round pick in order to protect

Fred Brathwaite Fredrick Brathwaite (born November 24, 1972) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former player. Brathwaite played as a goaltender, and spent his career with the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL ...

in the

2000 NHL Expansion Draft The 2000 NHL Expansion Draft was held on June 23, 2000, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The draft took place to fill the rosters of the league's two expansion teams for the 2000–01 season, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild. Rules ...

. Button later traded

Marc Savard Marc Savard (born July 17, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and current head coach of the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers (who o ...

to the Atlanta Thrashers for

Ruslan Zainullin Ruslan Faritovich Zainullin (russian: Руслан Фаритович Зайнуллин; born 14 February 1982) is a Russian professional ice hockey center currently playing for Kuban Krasnodar of the Russian second tier Higher Hockey League ...

, who never played a game in the NHL. Button held the position until the conclusion of the 2002–03 NHL season, when his contract was not renewed and was replaced with

Darryl Sutter Darryl John Sutter (born August 19, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current head coach of the Calgary Flames. He is one of seven Sutter brothers, six of whom made the NHL ( Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich, and ...

whom he had hired as Head Coach in December 2002. During the

2003–04 NHL season The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series four games to three against the Calgary Flames. For the fourth time in ...

the Flames made it to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing in seven games to the

. After his departure from the Flames, Button joined the

in 2004 as a scout.

TSN

Button is currently TSN's Director of Scouting, drawing on his intimate knowledge of the game and its players to deliver insight on the NHL's top prospects. He is also a key analyst on TSN's

That's Hockey ''That's Hockey'' (currently known as ''7-Eleven That's Hockey'' for sponsorship reasons) is a Canadian television series on TSN which presents the latest news in hockey as well as panelists and interviews with hockey personalities. The current ...

. Prior to joining TSN, Button was an analyst on the NHL Network show NHL on the Fly.

Awards and achievements

Stanley Cup championship (

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Button, Craig 1963 births Living people Calgary Flames general managers Concordia University alumni Dallas Stars executives Dallas Stars scouts Ice hockey people from New York (state) Minnesota North Stars executives Minnesota North Stars scouts National Hockey League broadcasters National Hockey League executives Sportspeople from Rochester, New York Stanley Cup champions Toronto Maple Leafs scouts