SALT LAKE CITY,UTAH- Many people have a bad perception of agents and how they operate because of their reputation and image that has been built up over the years. The idea and notion of “brown envelopes left in strategic places” and “high agents fees” have put agents in most sports in a very bad light. At least one agent is out to change that perception. David Imonti is a Salt Lake City based hockey agent with over five years experience of placing players at clubs across North America and within Europe. Originally Imonti started out during his college days where he placed his college team mates at clubs during the summer. ” When I first started out as an agent, I was literally working 20 hours a day sometimes trying to acquire new clients and build contacts with clubs. This involved a ton of emailing and phone calling, eventually leading to me successfully placing all 20 of my first year clients on clubs throughout the US and Europe. The quality of many of these players were far from great, but because I worked hard and placed these lesser players on clubs, I slowly began to build a good reputation in the hockey world and teams and players took notice,” Imonti said Despite dreams of hockey super stardom Imonti never failed to to make the most of his off ice skills “I have always had a passion for hockey, and dreamed of playing professional hockey as a kid. I worked as hard as possible to achieve my dream but unfortunately my ambition far outweighed my skill set. I did find out early on though that I had good business skills and I have always been an entrepreneur, I mean I never had a real job growing up. I was always hustling to make a buck, doing everything from washing cars to selling things on eBay all through high school. I was making twice as much money as all my friends that were working minimum wage jobs at fast food restaurants and not having to deal with working for a boss,” Imonti said “Once I got to college, I realised any chance of me playing legitimate professional hockey was a long shot, so I began offering my team-mates to teams when I was 19 years old. That summer was the first year of my initial agency, The Imonti Athlete Management Group. By starting that business I found something I was passionate about and pretty good at and by the time I graduated I sold my company and took a year to pursue my dream of playing pro hockey,” Imonti said “I was planning on quitting the agency business for the time being at least, but shortly after the IAMG’s sale, many of my top clients began tracking me down to work for them, so after some convincing I started 37 Hockey with several ex-clients turned business partners. I represented about 12 players while playing myself, and after one year of professional hockey I decided my talent was more useful as an agent than a player. I missed the adrenaline rush of getting a player signed, or dealing with each player on a personal basis to find the best fit for them. I am excited to get to work every day because I love my job and want to improve on the previous day’s work.”
I asked Imonti to comment on how he goes about his business and whether it is about him finding a club for a player or the other way around. ” I do a bit of contacting teams, but I would say about 75% of the contracts I negotiate were either by a club contacting me, or me calling a GM or coach that I have successfully worked with in the past. Most times I prefer to work with clubs that I have had good experiences with in the past because I can be confident that the player will get exactly what he is promised, and he will have a great experience with the club both on and off the ice,” Imonti said “A lot of the North American players coming to Europe are doing so to progress their careers, but at the same time want a life experience that will remember long after their hockey careers are finished. If I can make their experience a good one, it will make my life much easier and will also gain me quite a few client referrals along the way.” Imonti continued; “The hardest part I feel is finding the client, not the team. I like to work with players who not only possess excellent talents, but I also feel that excellent character is a necessity in any client I represent. I would much rather work with a player that is going to impress the club both on and off the ice by not only his skills but his work ethic and his ability to be a good citizen. I would rather have this than a top calibre player that might be a problem in the locker room or get into trouble off the ice. It is more of a headache for me to deal with players who impact their club negatively, than it is to deal with players I can confidently say will be a great addition to a hockey club on and off the ice,” Imonti said “I am also big on loyalty, every client I represent is signed to a representation contract that allows my agency exclusive representation rights. I feel that if a player is willing to make a commitment to me, I should devote 100% of my efforts towards finding them the perfect team for their situation. I don’t feel that it is fair to me or my other clients if I am committing time to a player that is unwilling to make a formal commitment to myself or my agency,” Imonti said “I have clients like Lou Dickenson that I have represented since my first year in the agency business, and he has been a very loyal client for almost five years now and I make it a point to give him my absolute best effort when placing him because he has been so committed to me for so long. Unfortunately, this isn’t a common practice among all agents and there are certain agents who claim they represent whoever will accept them as a friend on Facebook or MySpace. I think this is a terrible practice and will only hurt the clients and agent’s reputation in the long run.” Life isn’t always plain sailing for an agent though. Lots of things can crop up off the ice and cause issues between players and clubs. As most hockey fans know, players are usually ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ and very rarely stay around for more than a season or two. Loyalty is a big word and a central feature in Imonti’s vocabulary. “Like I said before, I am big on loyalty. When I was in France I had an opportunity to transfer to a club in the UK but chose not to because my French club had taken great care of me. I think I would have enjoyed the UK more than France, but at the end of the day I made a commitment to a club and I didn’t want to go back on my word. I have only had players break contracts several times and each time it was very difficult for me. The only time I can condone this happening is if the situation they are in was grossly misrepresented when they signed with the club (e.g: inadequate living conditions, trouble collecting pay, etc.) or if they are legitimately unhappy in their situation. If this is the case I always discuss the situation with the club prior to asking for a player’s release,” Imonti said “A final situation that I could see as acceptable was if a player was offered a significant amount of money to leave their current club. Many of these players are only able to play for a short period of time and have bills to pay back home. Would I be OK with a guy leaving a team for an extra $50 a month? No. But many times top players are offered ridiculous amounts of money to sign with a club who is making a playoff push,” Imonti said “If it is a great opportunity for a player, rarely will a team hold them back. There are very few situations I could deem acceptable for a player committing to a team and not showing up though. I would be severely embarrassed if one of my clients did that.” Recently a client of Imonti’s agency, 37hockey, had a deal in place to sign for the Telford Tigers in the EPL but at last minute pulled out and left the Tigers with just days to find a replacement before the signing deadline. Imonti and his associates and partners were quick to remove this player from their books as they felt his actions cast a bad image on their company. So where does the future go from here for Imonti and hockey agents in general? It is possible that players will become more and more motivated by other things other than the love of the game and could end up playing for reasons known only to themselves. Imonti wants to go all the way to the top, but making sure he leaves and honest and clear trail behind him
” I think a player will always need agents if they want to progress their career. Sure, some don’t have them or need them. The hockey world is small and sometimes guys have a buddy somewhere and they recruit them to come and play alongside them also, but if a guy is looking to play at the highest level possible they need an agent for negotiations, advisement and promotion,” Imonti said “I have personal relationships with at least 30-40 clubs worldwide so I can get players opportunities they might not get if a team just saw their resume with numbers on it. GM’s I work with are usually happy with what I send them and will take my word when I refer a player to them, eventually I would love to become a top agent at the NHL level, but I am not even 25 years old yet so there is plenty of time to tackle that in the coming year’s,” Imonti said “I really want to get as big as my talents will allow me to go without my work affecting my family life. This is a very demanding job and can put strain on a relationship if you don’t be careful. I am fortunate to have an amazing girlfriend that supports my career, so I keep my work in perspective and always remember that family comes first. Because of that, I am going to take my career day by day, but for the short term my goal is to become one of the top agents in minor professional hockey and in Europe. Once I do that I will focus on reaching the NHL level but I am not going to do it overnight.” Imonti said It seems then that at least one agent in sport knows how to conduct himself and is one of the few ‘nice guys’ in the sports world. Good luck in the future! Contact the author at Pete.lewis@prohockeynews.com
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