Allain Roy may be spending more time off the ice these days, but he's keeping his hockey dream alive as St. Louis' newest and only professional hockey agent.
The 32-year-old Roy, who played briefly in the Winnipeg Jets (now Phoenix Coyotes) organization and was a member of the 1994 silver medal Canadian Olympic hockey team and, recently launched CMG Sports, a hockey agency based in Chesterfield.
With associates and former pros Dennis Polonich (Detroit Red Wings) and Mel Bridgman (Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils), Roy's client list includes roughly 50 skaters in the American Hockey League, East Coast Hockey League, Major-Junior Hockey and National Hockey League. CMG Sports' NHL players include Nathan Smith of the Vancouver Canucks, Ronald Petrovicky of the Calgary Flames, and Brian Sutherby of the Washington Capitals.
Roy first arrived in St. Louis during the summer of 1995 when he played goalie for the St. Louis Vipers of the now defunct Roller Hockey International League. He was goalie for the Vipers again in 1996, and from 1997-1999 he served as vice president of operations of the Vipers.
Roy (pronounced r-WAH) said while St Louis is not known as a hotbed for developing young hockey talent, the city's central location provides easy access to points on both the East and West coasts. For now, Roy, a native of New Brunswick, Canada, said CMG Sports is focused primarily on recruiting young talent in Canada and the northern United States.
"I see two markets for us right now," he said. "The first is to go after the young guys. The other market is when you look at the NHL, there are some 200 certified agents, of which around 10 of them control 80 percent of the market. To me, that means there are players out there getting inadequate service. What I'd like to do is keep our client to employee ratio at around 10 to 1."
Roy said he plans to add more contracted recruiters to the agency in the coming months. Currently, CMG Sports employs four recruiters who work out of Western Canada, the Atlantic Provinces, New England and Michigan.
One of the things that sets CMG Sports apart from other agencies, according to Roy, is that the entire ownership of the company has professional hockey experience and an intensive love for the game. In fact, the idea to form the company evolved over a game of hockey.
"I was playing hockey with some Blues alumni and Dennis (Polonich) was playing with some Calgary Flames alumni," Roy said. "I told him I wanted to get into an agency, and we just started talking from there."
After completing his NHL Players Association certification earlier this year, Roy joined Polonich and his partner, Bridgman, to form CMG Sports. Roy, who put up the principal investment to form the company, serves as president of the agency and Polonich and Bridgman work as his associates. For Roy, who played college hockey at Harvard University, the agency allowed him the opportunity to get back into the sport.
Professional hockey treated me well enough to live on, but not enough to make a fortune," Roy said. "I'm much better off not playing. Still, I've always wanted to get back into the game somehow."
Polonich said Roy's return to the game couldn't have happened at a better time.
"Mel and I were looking at ways to expand our agent business and Al was the perfect candidate," he said. "He's got the hockey background, the Harvard education and a good business plan. It was a perfect fit."
CMG Sports shares offices with Roy's two other businesses, Crimson Marketing Group and E-group Manager, a Web design firm, at 1819 Clarkson Road. The three companies together employ approximately 15 people.
In the six months since CMG Sports was formed, the agency has acquired 10 players to add to the 40 or so already represented by Polonich and Bridgman prior to the formation of the new agency. In total, the 50 players represent between $8 million and $10 million in player contracts.
CMG charges its clients up to 4 percent of their contract price, and in addition to providing contract negotiations, the group also offers clients investment counseling, tax planning, media skills and litigation and arbitration work through outsourcing operations.
After spending some $40,000 on marketing efforts and employee payroll, Roy estimates CMG Sports will lose about $20,000 this year. That should change, however, as the agency recruits more players. Of course, the success of the agency also depends on the on-ice success of the players it represents, and as Roy knows from his own career in hockey, nothing is guaranteed.
"This business is kind of a crap shoot for a lot of reasons," he said. "One injury can change the entire outlook for a player, or you can begin developing a player as young as 15 or 16 and invest a lot of time in him, but then if the player never makes the pros or decides he doesn't want you as his agent you can't do anything about it. That's a risk we take, but it's also a risk they take. They depend on us to be there for them, so it really works both ways."