After 16 years, Helena’s Mike Butters is returning to the American Hockey League, this time as the general manager of the reorganized Tampa Bay Lightning’s top minor league team, the Norfolk, Va., Admirals.

The Lightning, who were recently purchased by an organization led by Hollywood producer Oren Koules, is expected to announce the decision at a press conference today in Norfolk at 1:30 p.m. EST.

Butters, the energetic and often boisterous part-owner of the Helena Bighorns Junior A Tier III hockey team, said he was asked by longtime friend Koules and his business partner, former pro hockey player Len Barrie, to take over the Lightning’s minor league team. The group is looking to restructure an NHL program that finished with the league’s worst record last season, just four years after winning the Stanley Cup.

The 42-year-old former pro hockey player from St. Boniface, Manitoba, who spent his last season in the AHL in 1992, will be making a big leap from the level of hockey he’s been putting together with the Bighorns, who won last season’s NorPac championship. However, he said, it won’t be too much of a stretch from what he does during the winters in Montana.

“I’ll be doing a little bit less (work). I laughed when they said how hard of work it will be.” he said. “The funny thing in Helena, after this year I can say I’ve done every possible duty that was out there.”

That includes, on top of his managing duties, reporting the radio play-by-play for some of the games, taping players’ ankles and stuffing programs. He’s been the head coach and an assistant on the bench, but most fans remember him for his role as the big man with the microphone, throwing out jokes and teasing refs, running the promotional games and riding on top of a Zamboni to pass out ice cream bars into the stands.

His role will be simpler with the Admirals, but not any less stressful.

He is responsible for a team in the NHL’s highest development league, which he estimates, produces 80 percent of its players.

Current Lightning players like defensemen Paul Ranger and Shane O’Brien worked their way to the big league by playing for the Admirals.

“I’ll be working more with the coaches, doing some advanced scouting and working on player trades and signing players,” Butters said.

He will likely be working with former assistant Darren Rumble, who is expected to be announced as head coach during the press conference, according to the Virginia-Pilot Web Site. Alan May, also a former NHL player, is likely to be his assistant coach.

“I knew of him, and didn’t have a chance to meet him until my interview process with Mike and the ownership group,” Rumble said in a phone interview. “Since that time it’s been great getting to know him.

“He’s got a real keen hockey eye and really sharp. He’s a really quick learner as far as players and collective bargaining. That stuff is really difficult to learn.”

For Butters, who likes to joke he hasn’t had a real job in nearly 15 years, it’s a big change and one that could have NHL gurus questioning his Hollywood producer boss for putting a man who has spent his days since professional hockey making a living as a film, stage and commercial actor at the head of player development.

Butters has spent just one year as a general manager, taking over for a team in the now-defunct West Coast Hockey League in 1994.

Butters got to know Koules after signing on for the original movie in the “Saw” horror series, and has had speaking roles in two of the three sequels. Koules is the producer of the franchise, which has grossed more than $400 million worldwide.

“Oren had asked me originally to do it (take over as general manager), and I was really skeptical at first, not with him or the opportunity, but just where I am in life,” Butters said. “We’re moving forward in Helena. People used to wonder if the rink would sell, and now they’re wondering if the Bighorns will be able to repeat as champions.”

He said that ultimately the deciding factor was his wife, Katie, who plans to stay in Helena over the next season and help out with the Bighorns.

“We won’t have to give up a lot of what we have to do in Helena,” he said. “It’s a family business, it’s the way it is with the Bighorns. “She was the one that saw us struggling the first two or three years and decided to come over and do the books.”

When asked if he was nervous about the move, Butters replied: “Really, no. I’m not, I’m confident enough in my abilities. We’ve got a great staff to be announced soon, we have a great coach and great team.

“Oren and Len are setting us up to succeed. They aren’t cutting any corners.”

Rumble agreed, saying that the new owners of the Lightning organization have a strong background in hockey and will help the Admirals hopefully back to a playoff spot after missing out last year.

“I’ve mentioned that we owe it to the fans to put a winning team back on the ice and put them back where they belong,” Rumble said. “I’m going into this season trying to win a championship, that’s my goal. More importantly, developing young players to be future Tampa Bay Lightning.”

As for himself, Butters has proven he can produce talented young athletes who often make the transition from Junior A to collegiate hockey. He’ll be looking to do the same, just at a different age.

“Developing talent is developing talent,” he said. “(Lightning head coach) Barry Melrose put it best when I asked him. He said, ‘Butts, instead of looking at 15 and 16 year olds, you’re looking at 22 and 23 year olds.’

“If you’re good at developing talent you can do it anywhere.”

Butters said that getting that advice from Melrose, who has spent the last 13 years since coaching the L.A. Kings as an analyst for ESPN, gave him a little more confidence.

“I’m confident I learned more about the game and more about all the aspects of the management side of the game now than I (knew) 12 years ago.”

Interim sports editor

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or irsports@helenair.com