The introduction of new Swift Current Broncos Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel Manny Viveiros was also an opportunity to roll out a new front office structure.

For years the General Manager of the Swift Current Broncos had his hand in every aspect of the organization. The new structure eliminates that position and spreads out the responsibility.

The Director of Player Personnel title puts Viveiros in charge of trades and the construction of the roster. The other new hockey post is the Director of Hockey Operations and the Broncos have offered that job to current Assistant General Manager Jamie Porter.

"It’s Manny’s room,” said Broncos chairman Liam Choo-Foo. “He’s the one that is in the dressing room and totally in charge of what’s going on under the stands at the rink. Jamie (Porter) is taking on a bigger role with the league in handling the contracts and making sure certain paperwork is done. He’s looking after the draft, making connections with agents and families… all those types of activities. This really does formalize that.”

The other change involves separating the hockey and business sides of the organization. The Broncos have offered Dianne Sletten a new role of Director of Business Operations that reports directly to the board instead of to a Coach/GM. That should lessen the burden on their coach to focus on hockey while giving Sletten a stronger mandate.

"There's so much to do and to be able to focus just on the hockey side of it is going to be a tremendous asset," Viveiros said. "I've also been involved in Europe as a General Manager, coach and with the business side and it's tough to find the time for everything. This gives us an opportunity to concentrate on hockey."

The board believes the change will help each segment of the organization.

“I think it’ll be extremely beneficial,” Choo-Foo said. “I tease (former Coach/GM Mark Lamb) that he almost had a full head of hair when he came. It weighs on you. There’s a huge benefit to just focus on the ice activities and what’s going on there. The other thing is it helps Dianne. She can make decisions without having to go and get approval.”

There will still be some work to do in figuring out all the responsibilities for the two hockey roles. That should come as Viveiros and Porter get better acquainted.

“The vision is if Manny wants to pull a trade and Jamie is jumping up and down saying that trade won’t work we would like Manny to listen to what he has to say," Choo-Foo noted. "Likewise if it’s a draft choice and Manny’s jumping up and down we expect Jamie to listen to that. It’s going to be very collaborative. The challenge is they don’t know each other yet. At this point in time the board has set these fairly high level job descriptions. As they start to work together we will then make it more granular and we will fill out more detailed components of who is in charge of what.”

Splitting the jobs up doesn't mean the three directors will be on their own. The board expects they will work together closely with an eye to strengthening the team as a whole.

“Our vision is these three will meet on a regular basis and discuss what is going on in their world,” Choo-Foo said. “We want that team ownership all hunkering in together and working for the benefit of the organization.”

The Broncos haven't yet finalized new contracts for Sletten and Porter. They are working to formalize those changes as soon as possible.