‘I’m ready in this next chapter’

Growing up in the Maples, Kirt Hill spent countless hours on the outdoor rink dreaming of winning the Stanley Cup.

As he made his way through the minor hockey system, into the system of the Winnipeg Hawks and Thrashers and later into the Western Hockey League with the Kelowna Rockets, that dream was still very much alive.

But after a trade to the Regina Pats and a pit stop in the USHL, Hill had a revelation of sorts.

“In Regina, as a 19-year-old and seeing how good they were, I kind of knew the writing was on the wall for me,” Hill said in a recent telephone interview from Edmonton.

Hill’s hockey journey wasn’t complete, not by a long shot.

It just veered down a slightly different path than the one he originally intended.

The latest step in the journey came about in June, when Hill was named assistant general manager of player procurement with the Edmonton Oilers.

Hill had previously been the GM of the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL, a job he began at the age of 30.

The Oilers Entertainment Group owns the Oil Kings, so there’s some immediate synergy in Hill getting a promotion to the NHL.

“I had been with the Oil Kings for eight years as the president and GM and I was certainly looking for that next challenge and trying to make the step to the NHL in some capacity,” said Hill. “Through my time managing the Oil Kings, I talked to leadership and asked for professional development opportunities and got that chance to sit in meetings, and got that chance to go down to Bakersfield a few times and see how they ran their (AHL) operation there and to try to make things better with the Oil Kings.

“I didn’t know if that would ever necessarily lead to something but you hope it potentially would. Eventually, with me being here and them seeing a role that fit my skill set, it was able to happen.”

“It’s really exciting. Being able to be here and watch them get so close twice, you feel for those guys. It just shows you how hard it is to win in the NHL.”

Starting this new job in June, Hill didn’t exactly have a lot of time to get acclimated, as he is tasked with assisting both on the amateur and pro sides of the ledger — part of the reason the new position had so much appeal.

“Coming from where I came from, when you’re running a junior hockey team you are wearing a lot of different hats,” said Hill. “A lot of people just think of the hockey ops side of things and dealing with the draft and scouting and trade deadline and building your team. But there’s so much more that goes into that, with kids’ education, billeting, advisers. That fast-paced tempo of having a big portfolio is something I’m used to and something I look forward to.”

The same goes for joining the management group of a franchise that came oh-so-close to capturing the Stanley Cup in 2024 and ’25, losing both hard-fought series to the Florida Panthers.

With a core group that includes captain Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, Hill recognizes where the Oilers stand in terms of their competitive window.

“It’s such a historic organization,” said Hill. “It’s really exciting. Being able to be here and watch them get so close twice, you feel for those guys. It just shows you how hard it is to win in the NHL.

“I watched it from a distance before. Being able to be in there every day and be part of the discussions and trying to lend whatever help you can to try to help that process. It’s a win-now scenario here in Edmonton, so it’s exciting when you’re trying to go for it every single year.”

When Hill was done playing junior hockey, he put his WHL scholarship money to good use, joining the University of Waterloo Warriors — playing four seasons while pursuing his degree, helping his team reach the University Cup as team captain in 2012-13.

At that point, Hill was at a crossroads.

Although there were opportunities to continue playing — either in Europe or in the lower levels of professional hockey in North America — Hill chose to retire and accepted a marketing internship with the Ottawa Senators.

“It was one of those feelings that you get in your stomach that maybe it’s time to move on,” said Hill. “Maybe if I didn’t have a job like that lined up, it would have been a little bit of a different story. It just seems like the stars aligned in that way.”

After spending 11 months in the job with the Senators, Hill interviewed for and was hired by the WHL to serve as manager of player development and recruitment.

“That’s where I feel like all of my networking happened,” he said. “It’s a very rare role where you get to work with a league entity where you get to know every single club and every single general manager and owner and head scout for 22 teams. You’re unbiased, you work for the league and you’re trying to help everybody. I got to build a ton of relationships through that over my five years there.”

There was just one thing missing.

“It was interesting. When you work for a league entity, I wasn’t really cheering for a team,” said Hill. “This had been good for my career, but then I got that next level itch, that I wanted to get back and work for an organization where the wins and losses matter every day.”

Hill accepted a job as an amateur scout with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017-18, when Stan Bowman was still the GM there.

“The most exciting thing for me is learning and learning this league… I’m ready in this next chapter to contribute some of my ideas to this organization and keep learning and getting better every day.”

“It was one of those roles where when I took it, I thought this was a job I could do for 15 to 20 years hopefully if I do a good job,” said Hill. “It ended up being short-lived but it was a good intro, getting thrown into the fire at a pretty elite level.”

Hill spent the next eight years as the president and GM of the Oil Kings, the franchise he guided to a WHL championship in his fourth year on the job.

“It was very rewarding,” said Hill. “Along the path, the thing you’re most proud of is advancing players and advancing staff upward.”

He also feels a great deal of gratitude about what this next chapter in his career will bring.

“It’s certainly something I don’t take for granted. I know how fortunate I am,” said Hill. “There are only so many roles across the world that you can work in like this every day.

“I’m going to take in as much knowledge as I possibly can and learn as much as I can. I will offer my opinions when I feel they can be offered. The most exciting thing for me is learning and learning this league. Over my eight years in the WHL, I got to learn a ton. So, I’m ready in this next chapter to contribute some of my ideas to this organization and keep learning and getting better every day.”

Hill isn’t about to forget where he came from either.

“The Manitoba circles in hockey are pretty small. It’s such a great hockey province,” said Hill. “I look at my childhood and growing up in Winnipeg as building a lot of who I am today.”

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