Meet Bliss Littler, Wenatchee Wild General Manager

With nearly four decades of experience in hockey, Bliss Littler brings a unique blend of passion, leadership, and community focus to his role as General Manager of the Wenatchee Wild. A lifelong student of the game, Littler has dedicated his career to developing young talent and building successful teams both on and off the ice. 

Now in his 13th year with the Wild—and his 36th in the hockey business—he’s overseen the team’s transition into the Western Hockey League and continues to play a pivotal role in shaping its future.

Recently, we caught up with Littler to learn more about his path through the sport, his philosophy on leadership and player development, and what it means to run a junior hockey organization with deep roots in its community.

Please tell our readers a little bit about yourself. 

I am 58 years old and have been married to my wife, Gretchen, for 22 years. We have one son, Cade, who is 20 years old and is at the University of North Dakota playing hockey. He is a Calgary Flames draft pick. We have one daughter, Grace, who is a senior in high school at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, BC. Grace will go to college next fall at Saint Anselm, where she will also play college hockey. I have worked in hockey my entire adult life. I met my wife, Gretchen, while coaching in Billings, Montana. We have moved around as coaches will do from Billings, MT, to Topeka, KS, to Kearney, NE, to Omaha, NE, and then here to Wenatchee. I started working as an Assistant Coach and Marketing Director in Minot, ND, in the Saskatchewan Hockey League. I will be starting my 36th year in the hockey business.

How long have you been in your current role? 

This will be my 13th year as the GM of the Wenatchee Wild. My first 8 years here in Wenatchee, I was also the Head Coach. Before coming to Wenatchee, I spent 12 years in the United States Hockey League (USHL) as a GM/Head coach in Omaha, NE, Tri City, NE, and Topeka, KS. I started in this business in Billings, MT, with the Billings Bulls as GM/Head coach for 7 years.

(WHL)

Please tell our readers about the Wenatchee Wild. 

The Wenatchee Wild is a hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The WHL is the top development junior hockey league in the world for developing players for the NHL . The Wild employs approximately 20 full-time employees. We take a lot of pride in the fact that we help raise over $100,000 a year for local charities, youth teams, and service clubs through Chuck a Puck, jersey actions and tickets. Being an active member of the community is very important to our organization.

What led you to this position? 

I went to college for Business and have always had a passion for hockey and being an organizer. I know I have been extremely lucky to do something I absolutely love to do for a living.

How has your leadership style evolved over the years? 

I think early on I was more rigid and structured in how I went about my business. I have for sure lightened up and try to let people work and realize that there is more than one way to get a job done. I will give expectations and offer help and suggestions, but I try to let people work and not micromanage.

What’s been the most pivotal decision of your career so far? 

For sure, it was taking the phone call from David White about staying in Wenatchee as the GM/Head coach and bringing my wife on the staff to help with running the business.

What’s your philosophy on team culture, and how do you instill it across such a dynamic group of young athletes? 

We are a players-first organization. We want to make sure that our decisions always start with the player being taken care of. From there, we want all of our players and coaches to be held accountable to work ethic, discipline, and on and off ice behavior. With our coaching staff leading by example, it makes creating this culture a 'lead by example' case, where the players not only hear it, but also see it from our coaches.

What are some of the biggest challenges of running the hockey operations for a WHL team? 

Having patience with player development is always hard. When you try to balance winning hockey games for instant gratification for your fans and the development of the young players that usually come with youthful mistakes, it is always hard but you know you have to develop the young players for future success. Trading a player is also tough.

What is your favorite part of your job and why? 

I would say that when the players succeed, it would be at the top of the list. It could be when they earn a college scholarship, get drafted by an NHL team, play their first NHL game or have success in life and reach out to share their success.

How do you balance short-term team performance with long-term organizational development? 

On the player development side, trying to balance the young player getting his ice time to develop and the Head coach and the rest of the team trying to win games. The coaches and players all know that for development, younger players need to be put in good situations to grow.  Also, a player in his draft year expects more attention from the coach, so it's always a balancing act that the Head coach and GM have to deal with.

As General Manager, you're responsible for the entire hockey side of the business. What does a typical day look like for you? 

Well, as GM here in Wenatchee, I oversee both the Business side and the hockey side of the organization. First of all, you need to hire and have good people around you that you can trust. Then you have to let them do their jobs and not micro-manage them. On the business side, I usually meet with the sales and marketing team once a week and stay updated on season tickets and corporate sales with Gretchen Littler and David Rayfield. I will also meet with the business manager/accountant, Jesi Janes, to go over cash flow every week. The Hockey side is definitely more fun and exciting for me. I will have a set meeting with Chris Clark, Assistant GM/Director of Hockey Operations, one time a week, as well as a set meeting with Head Coach Don Nachbaur, one time a week. I will also have several meetings and discussions with our Director of Scouting, Leigh Mendelson, during the week. I try to watch practice as much as possible to see how our players are developing. As a hockey staff, we talk every day about the players and who is having success and who might be struggling and how to help that player.

What are some of your future goals for the Wenatchee Wild? 

The goal is to win the Memorial Cup.

Who or what inspires you? 

The challenge of being a very small market team in the US division certainly has its financial challenges. Building a championship team will definitely keep you up at night. When David White (owner of the Wild) bought the Winnipeg Ice franchise and moved it to Wenatchee in June of 2023 we inherited a team without many draft picks in the cupboard and missing many desired high end prospects on our list we knew it would be a tough couple of years before we would be able to start moving in the direction of chasing the Memorial Cup. As far as who or what inspires me. I would say wanting my wife, kids, parents and family to be proud of what we can accomplish. David and Lisa White are also two people I don't want to let down. The trust they have put into Gretchen and me is humbling. Watching how they operate as business leaders, but more importantly as high end caring people is motivating.