What makes a perfect NHL general manager? Is it a GM who drafts the best players no matter the position of the pick? Is it a GM who can handle the salary cap the best? Or is it simply a GM who can sign and trade for the best players? In today's article, I’ll be ranking each NHL general manager “power ranking” style and I’ll be using the previous moves and drafts of NHL GMs. I will list every single general manager from 31 being the worst, and 1 being the best. After each paragraph I’ll list three of the GMs best and worst moves. There could be other good or bad moves that the GM has made, but I’ll be listing the ones I feel are the best and worst ones.
Before we start, I must tell you how each GM will be ranked and evaluated. These rankings will be based purely on what each GM has done for the team they currently manage. So for example, Steve Yzerman’s ranking won’t be based on his time in Detroit and Tampa, it’ll be evaluated based on what he has done in Detroit. To rank a GM, we must look at the things that the manager has done. That includes trades, drafting, free agency moves, rebuilding (or pushing for the cup), and salary cap as well as asset management. Obviously, I’m not a GM. I don’t know what it’s like to manage a hockey franchise, but I can guarantee you the job of an NHL GM isn’t easy and it can get really stressful. So before we start, I must mention that it takes some serious skill to run an NHL team, so power to these 31 gentlemen. To add to that, Seattle’s GM Ron Francis won’t be included as Seattle has yet to make any moves except for signing 20 year-old Luke Henman to an ELC.
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31- Jim Benning- Vancouver Canucks
(Photo Credit: Sportsnet)
Jim Benning was named the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks way back when on May 21st, 2014. Since then the Canucks have been in all sorts of hell. That includes bad cap management, horrible prospect managing and constant issues with being a playoff team. Most of it is Jim Benning’s fault.
Back in 2014 when Mike Gillies was practically fired by the fans when they chanted “fire gillies”, Canucks fans were hopeful in Jim Benning. That didn’t age well. Since Benning’s hiring, he hasn’t made too many bright moves. He is known to be a notoriously bad GM, especially when it comes to free agency and cap management. It seems like he is good at drafting as we’ve seen players like Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes get drafted by Benning, but that was proven to be a lie. We found out that thanks to ex-Canuck scout Judd Brackett, that those players that “Benning picked” were advised by Brackett and Benning trusted him. It turned out that Benning’s personal picks were Olli Juolevi and Jake Virtanen. Two very notable draft busts in recent Canucks history.
So if Benning is so bad, why does he still have a job? Well to answer that question, we need to realize that the Canucks owner Francesco Aquillini doesn’t like to spend money and would rather keep Benning than spend money on a new general manager. Even though Benning has made some horrible moves, he has some bright spots. He’s managed to lock up Bo Horvat to a 6 year deal worth 5.5 million dollars annually. It’s looked like a great contract so far considering Bo is the captain of the team and is a constant 60 point player and a consistent 20 goal scorer. Benning also traded for JT Miller at the 2019 NHL entry draft for a first round pick. Miller has played 109 games with Vancouver so far, and has had 111 points in that time. In all honesty, Benning shouldn’t have a job. He isn’t a good GM and he’s one of the main reasons the Canucks have failed to be a playoff team, as they've made the playoffs only twice in 7 years.
Best Moves by Benning: JT Miller trade, Bo Horvat contract, Trading For Tanner Pearson.
Worst Moves by Benning: Loui Eriksson contract, 2020 free agency, 2018 free agency.
—- 30- Doug Wilson- San Jose Sharks
(Photo Credit: NHL)
Doug Wilson has been San Jose’s general manager for eons now as he was hired on May 13th, 2003. When he first came to the Sharks organization the San Jose Sharks had recently finished the 2002-03 NHL season having a 28-37-8 record season. The Sharks were tired of being a constantly bad team, and they wanted change. That's when they brought in Doug Wilson.
The following season Doug Wilson gave the Sharks what they wanted, and San Jose finished first in the Pacific division. San Jose managed to record 42 wins that year. Even though the playoffs weren’t what they wanted, this successful season locked Wilson’s spot up as a GM for a long time. Since then, Doug Wilson has done a fantastic job at keeping the Sharks a successful and a winning team. The Sharks constantly finished first, second and third in the pacific almost every single year since 2004. Wilson was also very close to bringing a Stanley Cup to San Jose in 2016, but the Pittsburgh Penguins were simply too good and stole that from them.
So if Wilson has done such an amazing job, why is he 30th and not first? Well, Wilson has been doing painfully bad in recent years. In his last couple seasons Wilson has been doing some very threatening things to the San Jose Sharks such as trading basically everything they had to the Senators in exchange for Erik Karlsson who was later given a massive, long term, expensive contract worth 92 million and that contract would last until 2027. Right after the contract the Sharks unexpectedly went into an instant rebuild mode and since then have been doing very poorly. They could have had the third overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft and could've taken Tim Stützle, but they traded that pick for Erik Karlsson. The Sharks haven’t made the playoffs in two straight seasons, and both years have been miserable with no sign of a bright future. All San Jose has is old, washed up, overpaid veterans that feel like an anchor weighing the franchise down. Doug Wilson’s job surely has to be on the line after these last two miserable seasons.
Best Moves by Wilson: Trading For Joe Thornton, Drafting Joe Paveliski in 2003, Trading For Brent Burns
Worst Moves by Wilson: Trade For Erik Karlsson and Signing Him, Trading For Dany Heatley, Martin Jones Contract
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29- Chris Drury- New York Rangers
(Photo Credit: NHL)
The only reason Drury is 29th is because: 1) He has been New York’s GM for only two weeks, and 2) he is better than both Benning and Wilson even though he’s only been employed for only two weeks.
In these two weeks that Drury has been a GM, he has been surprisingly productive. Only two moves have been made, but both moves were great. The first being the Ryan Lindgren contract where he extended the young shutdown defenceman Ryan Lindgren to a three year deal worth 3 million per year. Lindgren had a fantastic year in New York, so that contract looks really solid. It’s early to tell if it’s worth it, but based on what we know it’s a fair deal.
His second move, which was also a long awaited move, was firing head coach David Quinn. Nothing against Quinn, but he wasn’t the fit in New York. He never played the young stars, and it ruined their growing experience. Fans have been begging for him to be fired, and Drury gave it to them. Drury hasn’t been in office for too long, but based on his moves he looks to be a very promising general manager.
Best Moves by Drury: Ryan Lindgren Contract, Firing David Quinn
Worst Moves by Drury: None
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28- Chuck Fletcher- Philadelphia Flyers
(Photo Credit: AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Even though Fletcher isn’t the greatest GM, he has admitted that he’s been underperforming in the manager role and has promised to step it up. We appreciate an honest GM and so do the fans. Fletcher hasn’t been Philly’s GM for too long as he was hired on December 3rd, 2018. Since then the Flyers have been inconsistent. One year they’re a cup favourite, the other they are the laughing stock of the NHL because they lost to a hockey team that was on an eighteen game losing streak. Fletcher hasn’t been Philadelphia's GM long enough to start earning himself a “fire fletcher” role, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good general manager.
Fletcher has made some questionable moves like signing Kevin Hayes to that odd contract that pays him 7.14 million dollars annually for 7 years, and barely doing anything to improve the team in the 2020 off-season. He was known to be an awful GM in Minnesota making some horrible moves like trading away Brent Burns, losing Erik Haula and Alex Tuch to Vegas, and trading away Nick Leddy.
Again, Fletcher hasn’t been the GM in Philadelphia long enough to be a bad one, but he is showing signs of what he did in Minnesota. Those things being him simply not doing anything to improve the team and not being fast enough to fix immediate underlying issues. Although he may seem bad now, he has apologized and he does seem to realize his mistakes. Maybe it’s just the start of the Chuck Fletcher redemption… Who knows.
Best Moves by Fletcher: Drafting Cam York, Ivan Provorov Extension, Joel Farabee Contract
Worst Moves by Fletcher: 2020 Off-season, Hiring Alain Vigneault, Kevin Hayes Contract
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27- Brad Treliving- Calgary Flames
(Photo Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
I find it ironic how Flames fans have blamed their recent (and past) struggles on the players and coaches, but not the person running the entire show. Treliving has had his fair share of good moves, but he’s once again failed to build a playoff team. He’s also failed rebuilding and re-tooling many times. This 2020 off-season Treliving famously brought in a ton of ex-Canucks to Calgary in hopes of the team doing well using chemistry. That didn’t work out as the Flames were the second team to get eliminated from the playoff contention in the Scotia North Division.
To be fair, Treliving has made some great moves but Calgary has gone nowhere with him in office. He isn’t building a winning team even when he tries his best. He brings in the best players, yet it doesn’t click for him. After like 40 coaches, and the Flames still not doing well, I think that Brad Treliving isn’t a good general manager. He’s had so many opportunities to build a cup worthy team in Calgary and he’s done a poor job at it. Calgary has made the playoffs a couple times since his hiring in 2014, but they’ve never gone further than the second round. It has to be time for a change.
Treliving brought in Jacob Markstrom, Chris Tanev, and locked up Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, and they still can’t win. Treliving isn’t capable of dealing with cap space. He spends a lot of money on pieces his team doesn’t need. I have no clue when the ownership will look to change things in Treliving’s department, but I would expect it to be very soon.
Best Moves by Treliving: Chris Tanev Signing, Trading Sven Baertschi for a Second Round Pick (Rasmus Andersson), Trade to Acquire Dougie Hamilton
Worst Moves by Treliving: Trading Away Dougie Hamilton, Michael Ferland and Adam Fox to Carolina for Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm, Trading for TravisHamonic, Mark Giordano Contract
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26- Kevyn Adams- Buffalo Sabres
(Photo Credit: NHL)
Kevyn Adams is another GM that hasn’t been the general manager of his respected team for too long. Adams was hired by the Buffalo Sabres less than a year ago on June 16th, 2020. Since then Adams has brought in some decent players to the organization, but they haven't exactly worked out. Adams was responsible for the Taylor Hall signing, but as we all know he later traded Hall at the deadline to the Boston Bruins in exchange for a second round pick and Anders Bjork. Since the trade, Taylor Hall has played 16 regular season games with the Bruins, netted in 8 goals and has had 14 points. Hall has been lighting it up in Boston, while the Sabres received a mere second round pick for the star.
He also traded away Marcus Johansson for Eric Staal. Staal was later traded to the Canadiens at the deadline and he hasn’t been good all season. Johansson had 14 points in 36 games with Minnesota this season while Staal has had 8 points in 53 games. Kevyn Adams’ biggest weakness is his trading, and that's a horrible weakness to have considering trading is a massive part of being a general manager. If I were Buffalo, I would move on from Kevyn Adams ASAP because he is showing major signs of being a underwhelming general manager, and considering what position Buffalo is in, that is the last thing you want.
Kevyn Adams hasn’t been around long enough to make any horrid moves or ground breaking changes, but to give an early analysis on him is fair. That analysis being that he doesn’t have potential to bring success to Buffalo. He hasn’t made any great moves quite yet. Drafting JJ Paterka and firing Ralph Krueger have been his only good moves so far, and those moves seem like any GM could make. No hate against him, but Buffalo might regret hiring him. (I do hope I will be proved wrong though).
Best Moves by Adams: Firing Ralph Krueger, Drafting JJ Paterka, Signing Taylor Hall
Worst Moves by Adams: Taylor Hall Trade, Signing Sam Reinhart and Linus Ullmark to One Year Deals, Drafting Jack Quinn at 8th
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25- Bob Murray- Anaheim Ducks
(Photo Credit: wikiodin)
Bob Murray is a questionable general manager. He has had his fair share of good contracts, good trades and good draft selections. But, there are more negatives than positives to his work with Anaheim. Since his hiring in 2008, Murray has gotten his team to the playoffs 8 times in 13 years. That isn’t horrible, but when you look at the progress they Ducks have made in the playoffs, you’d realize that the Ducks aren’t exactly a dominant team. They haven’t made it further than the conference finals and after 13 years that should ring a bell saying “maybe it’s time for a new voice”.
Even though Murray isn’t the best, there’s a reason he is not last. After the 2013-24 NHL season concluded, Murray was named the NHL’s GM of the year. The Ducks ended the season with a whopping 116 points and finished the year ending first in the Pacific Division with 54 wins. That’s heavily imposing. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry dominated the NHL together and it made Anaheim a scary team to play against. You’d think that after such a dominant season the Anaheim Ducks would make a deep playoff push, but they ended up losing to the LA Kings in 7 games in round two of the playoffs. The Kings would go on and win the Stanley Cup while the Ducks would try to continue building a better team to hopefully win a cup sometime soon.
That's what Bob Murray was good at. He built a good team that never seemed to succeed in the playoffs. The Ducks finished 1st in the Pacific Division for 5 straight years in between the 2012-13 season and the 2017-18 season. They stayed dominant in the regular season, but never did well in the playoffs. Bob Murray never gave in, but the Ducks have lost so much talent due to age and that caused them to go into a rebuild without winning a cup. (They won a cup before, but that was before Murray was hired). Bob Murray has done some questionable things like trading Chris Kunitz in his prime to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ryan Whitney or trading away Kyle Palmieri to the Devils for draft picks that never turned out to be good players. Murray isn’t the greatest at drafting and recently his name has come across the “next GMs to be fired” lists. The Ducks need a new GM who can rebuild the team within a 5 year window, and Bob Murray hasn’t shown any progress with the rebuild. Maybe it’s time to move on from the GM, even if he’s given the Ducks some success.
Best Moves by Murray: Drafting Trevor Zegras, Ryan Kesler Trade, Cam Fowler Contract
Worst Moves by Murray: Trading Away Kyle Palmieri, Trading For Patrick Eaves, Chris Kunitz Trade
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24- Bill Armstrong- Arizona Coyotes
(Photo Credit: NHL)
We are now moving into the ranking area part that can be described as “meh”. That’s because some of these upcoming GMs aren’t good nor are they bad. They’re just average GMs that have made some bad moves but have made relatively good moves and they deserve a spot in the NHL as general managers.
Armstrong hasn’t really been in the NHL long enough to be a bad GM, but he’s not good either. To describe him as “meh” would be perfect. Armstrong was previously working with the Blues as an assistant GM and won the cup in 2019, but was later hired as the GM of the Arizona Coyotes on September 17th, 2020. Poor Bill. He didn’t realize the mess he stepped right into. They didn’t have a first round pick for the upcoming draft because previous GM John Chayka screwed the entire organization over with his illegal combine testing. Armstrong was stuck making a playoff team with nothing to work with. Hardly any cap space and no picks or good players.
The Coyotes finished the 2020-21 NHL season 22nd in the league and 9 points out of a playoff spot. It wasn’t good, but it was better than some people expected. Armstrong didn’t make any moves to improve the team but since he’s relatively new to being a GM, I’ll cut him some slack. Yes, he’s made a couple bad moves but he’s admitted to doing bad things and he wants to start doing better. He has lots of time to work with what he has and prove himself right. The fact that the coyotes are in such a hell hole right now, Armstrong has been handling these issues pretty well. It hasn’t been the end of the world on the Coyotes like everyone said it would. Even though Armstrong is alright, he has lots of work to do and he has a ton of pressure on him especially for the upcoming draft. Maybe we see a player get traded for a first round pick in this upcoming daft? Seems like the only way to go.
Best Moves by Armstrong: Extending Ilya Lyubushkin, Giving Michael Bunting a chance, Tyler Pitlick Signing
Worst Moves by Armstrong: Letting Hall Walk, Drafting Mitchell Miller, Waiving Drake Cagguila
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23- Ken Holland- Edmonton Oilers
(Photo Credit: sportsnet)
When Ken Holland was hired by the Edmonton Oilers organization in May of 2019 to replace former GM Peter Chiarelli it felt like a huge relief for Oilers fans across the world. The Oilers were free from one of the worst GMs in NHL history, and they were getting a new GM by the name of Ken Holland. Oilers fans were ecstatic because Holland just came to their organization after 22 years with the Detroit Red Wings. In those 22 years as a GM, the Red Wings did not miss the playoffs once and won three Stanley Cups during that time. It felt like the Oilers were saved and they were ready to take a huge step up.
Holland’s hiring ended up being underwhelming. He made the Oilers a playoff team, just not a good one. He’s made some good and bad moves. He’s the perfect definition of “average”. He isn’t game changing but he’s good enough. Holland promised to slowly make the Oilers a winning team, and while that’s still a semi-work in progress, he’s done a decent job at it. There have been some strange contracts given out and some of the things he’s done have infuriated Oilers fans, but he’s done a pretty good job. I wouldn’t be calling for his head if I were an Oilers fan.
He’s relatively new to the Oilers family as he’s been the GM there for only three years, but he’s experienced a bit of everything in Edmonton. A rebuilding season, a mediocre season, and a high winning season. With his progress, it may look like the Oilers can become a cup contending team very soon. To replace him with Chiarelli is glorious, and I’m sure the city of Edmonton does not want to go through that period of time all over again. Holland isn’t going to be a top 10 GM ever again, but he’s pretty alright. He definitely deserves to be a general manager in the NHL.
Best Moves by Holland: James Neal Trade, Drafting Dylan Holloway, Darnell Nurse Extension
Worst Moves by Holland: Trading Away John Marino, Zack Kassian Contract, Alex Chiasson Contract
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22- Tom Fitzgerald- New Jersey Devils
(Photo Credit: Jess Starr/THW)
When Fitzgerald joined the Devils organization back in 2015, he was advised a role as an assistant general manager. Five years later the Devils needed a new GM, and Tom Fitzgerlad stepped in as an interim GM. About a couple weeks after being in search of a new general manager, the Devils gave up on all the candidates and named Fitzgerald as their general manager. That decision wasn’t horrible, especially considering it was a panic move.
Since becoming New Jersey’s GM, Tom Fitzgerald has had his fair share of good and bad moves. He realizes that his team is in a rebuild phase and he knows he needs to build his team up for the future. Fitzgerald has done a satisfactory job at that. He knows what he needs to do, and he has earned himself a decent ranking. I would rank him higher, but he hasn’t been the GM of New Jersey long enough to put up high in the rankings. I will give props to him and the Devils organization because he seems like a very positive and smart general manager.
He managed to turn a struggling player in Kyle Palmieri into a first round pick, which is exactly what the Devils need. At the deadline they needed to sell so that they could receive draft picks and that's exactly what Fitzgerald did. He traded multiple upcoming UFAs in exchange for draft picks, and thanks to his solid work so far in NJ, their future looks bright. I hope that if I ever re-make this list in the future, he can be in a top 10 position. I seriously have high hopes for Tom and I think he’s not only a nifty GM, but he seems like a genuine dude that loves the game and his players.
Best Moves by Fitzgerald: Palmieri Trade, Drafting Holtz, Trading For Nolan Foote
Worst Moves by Fitzgerald: Trading For Ryan Murray, Trading For Andreas Johnsson
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21- Jim Nill- Dallas Stars
(Photo Credit: Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
Jim Nill has been Dallas’ GM for a while now and he’s done an okay job. I don’t want to say he has done a great job, but he certainly hasn’t done a bad job. Some Stars fans would argue he is not a good general manager, but some others would say he’s just fine. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, but this fish does the job. It might be time to move on from Nill and here’s why.
Nill has done a fantastic job in Dallas bringing them to game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals in 2020, but it may be time to consider someone else. Nill hasn’t been horrible but the Stars are an aging team and a lot of their stars (no pun intended) are aging real quick. Dallas might want to make a finals push next year, but if they can’t make it past round one, it might be time for a complete cleanup and redo. New coach, new roster, and new management. As mentioned earlier, Nill is a decent GM. The only issue is that he’s gotten the Stars nowhere and they have been heavily inconsistent going from the cup finals to missing the playoffs. The Stars need a change up, and it must start with the head office.
Nill has had a good tenure in Dallas. He’s brought in players like Pavelski, Hintz, Gurianov and many more. He has built a cup team before, and he’s rebuilt this team before too. He knows what he’s doing, and he achnolages what he tries to do to the ownership and fans which is important in a GM. He’s a great business man too which helps him with trades and trying to outsmart agents and other general managers across the league. Nill is a typical NHL GM who isn’t monumental, but he’s good enough to have a job with some teams. He can do his job right and he knows what he wants to do with the team; he wants to win.
Best Moves by Nill: Trading for Tyler Seguin, Trading for Jason Spezza, John Klingberg Contract
Worst Moves by Nill: Martin Hanzal Contract, Trading for Niemi, Not Doing Anything in the 2016 NHL Trade Deadline
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20- David Poile- Nashville Predators
(Photo Credit: NHL)
David Poile is one crazy guy. He is the only general manager in Nashville Predators history. The one and only. Nobody else has been the GM of that organization ever, except for Poile. Anything to ever happen in the history of Nashville is blamed and credited on him. It can’t be on anyone else. That's what makes Poile so hard to rank, you have to look back to day 1 where he became the GM of the Preds. Poile was hired by Nashville in 1997, but before that he worked as the GM of the Washington Capitals for 13 straight years. Can you imagine being a general manager in the NHL for 37 years? Poile doesn’t need to.
Poile has gotten the Predators to the finals only once in his 24 years in Nashville, but they’ve been a consistently good team for many years now. The Predators constantly make the playoffs, but never make it far. Maybe it’s time for a rebuild? It’s too bad they have David Poile who doesn’t know how to rebu- wait a minute… Yes he can! For crying out loud, Poile built the Predators. He made them into this constantly good team. So that must make him a good GM by the standards. Well yes, but actually no. Even though they’ve been successful, they haven’t won anything. The city of Nashville still hasn’t won a Stanley Cup and you would think they should have after making the playoffs seven years in a row and especially after having Barry Trotz as their head coach for many years. That’s the one issue Poile has; he can make a good regular season team that looks scary, but he can’t get them to win anything in the postseason.
Poile has made many fantastic moves, but after 24 years as a GM for one team there will always be bad moves. I would argue his good moves outweigh his bad ones, but since the Predators can’t get anywhere and the time is running short before the Preds fall into an inevitable rebuild, it might be the end for Poile in Nashville soon. If you asked me to rank Poile three or four years ago I would put him somewhere around 10th or 11th, but since the Preds have made no progress, Poile’s ranking starts to regress.
Best moves by Poile: Trading for Filip Forsberg, Trading For Mike Fisher, Drafting David Legwand
Worst Moves by Poile: Trading Shea Weber for PK Subban, Trading for Ryan Johansen for Seth Jones, Trading Away Kevin Fiala
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19- Ron Hextall- Pittsburgh Penguins
(Photo Credit: David Maialetti/ The Inquirer)
There isn’t much to report on Hextall. It’s obvious he can build a playoff team and that's exactly what he’s done so far in Pittsburgh. Hextall hasn’t been in Pittsburgh for an entire year yet, but he’s made the Pens into a legit playoff contender and if he continues his hard work, he can give them one more Stanley Cup before the Penguins head off into a possible rebuild.
Best Moves by Hextall: Trading for Jeff Carter
Worst Moves by Hextall: --
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18- Pierre Dorian- Ottawa Senators
(Photo Credit: Youtube)
Pierre Dorian is an interesting general manager. He definitely has his good and bad moves, but this may come off as a hot take but I think he’s built a bright future for Ottawa. Even though he’s done that, it’s time for the Senators to move on from him. He’s given the Senators a bright future, now it’s time for a better GM to come in and finish the job and give Ottawa a cup, because frankly Dorion won't ever win a Stanley Cup.
Dorian knows how to rebuild teams and knows how to draft well and get the best young players available to his franchise. He’s brought in players like Josh Norris, Brady Tkachuk, and Tim Stützle. Two of those players came from the robbery of a trade he made with the Sharks when he dealt away Erik Karlsson. Dorian knows how to rebuild teams, but his biggest issue is building a winning team. He’s basically a scout. He knows who to take and he has the vision to decide whether a player will be good or not and he makes his choices like that.
This is where I might lose you, but hear me out. The only reason the Senators might be a top 3 NHL team in the next five to ten years is because of what Dorian has brought to the table. Even though the Senators are still in a slight rebuild, they have many more years before all their younglings pan out and take over. Dorian has another chance at a good prospect in the 2021 draft, and only time will tell ifi it works out for him. There is a lot of pressure coming up on Dorian this off-season as many players need new contracts and he might need to choose a new captain for his team. It’s a hot take, I know. But I truly think Pierre Dorian has done a splendid job at rebuilding the Senators and making them into future contenders.
Best Moves by Dorian: Erik Karlsson Trade, Drafting Tim Stützle, Drafting Brady Tkachuk
Worst Moves by Dorian: Mark Stone Trade, Mika Zibanajad Trade, Trade for Duchene
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17- Kevin Cheveldayoff- Winnipeg Jets
(Photo Credit: NHL)
Cheveldayoff’s time in Winnipeg has felt like forever. He was hired by the Jets on June 8th 2011, and he’s been through everything the Jets have gone through. He’s done a pretty solid job at building a playoff team that has a chance at the cup. The Jets aren’t quite there at the Cup level, but they’re playoff contenders. Cheveldayoff built the Jets up from the Thrashers and he’s done a pretty decent job. He’s had his fair share of bad moves, but he’s been a very solid general manager in Winnipeg.
Cheveldayoff likes his forwards, and that might be an issue at some points. Cheveldayoff doesn’t realize the Winnipeg Jets are in need of defence and right now that could be a large issue. The Jets have so much star forward power (that includes Blake Wheeler, Pierre-Luc Dubios, Nikolaj Ehlers and many more players) but the issue is that their best defenceman is Neal Pionk. Pionk is a great player don’t get me wrong, but he’s arguably their only good defensive defenseman. Josh Morrisey hasn’t been good recently, and the other D-men in Winnipeg don’t do as good as they should. I think KC understands he’s got Hellyubuck in net, but when it comes to big games Hellyubuck needs help on the blue line and right now he isn’t getting that.
Cheveldayoff has done some tremendous things with Winnipeg and the Jets should keep him around no questions asked. I think the only thing that could help the Jets is hiring some assistant GMs that specialize in advanced analytics because the Jets are running low on salary cap, and to be a cup worthy team they need to acquire some defencemen for cheap. If Cheveldayoff can get some defence he could be a Stanley Cup champion soon.
Best Moves by Cheveldayoff: Hellyubuck Contract, Drafting Nikolaj Ehlers, Drafting Kyle Connor
Worst Moves by Cheveldayoff: Trading Away Kevin Hayes, Zachary Bogosian Contract, Dustin Byfuglien 2019-20 Controversy
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16- Stan Bowman- Chicago Blackhawks
(Photo Credit: LWOS)
Bowman is an alluring general manager to put it at best. He has his ups and downs, but when he’s on a roll he can make some terrific moves and give Chicago some great assets along with great players. Although in the recent years Stan Bowman hasn’t been the greatest, he is responsible for the dominant 2010-decade that the Blackhawks had. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Hawks fan or not, you have to admit that Bowman might be one of the greatest GMs of all time because he built a modern day dynasty in Chicago that won 3 cups.
Although Bowman has had a very successful past in Chicago and brought them so much success, his recent time in Chicago has been wonky and flukey. His recent trades and signings haven’t been the best and most of his moves he has made in these past couple years have been questionable to say the least. Bowman has made some horrible moves like trading Artemi Panarin in exchange for Brandon Saad who was eventually traded for Nikita Zadorov. Bowman has also recently tried to remake his 2010, 2013, and 2015 cup winning teams by getting the players of those squads back together, but that ultimately screwed the Blackhawks, and led them into their current mediocrity. Bowman has been trying to recreate his old teams in hopes of winning one last Stanley Cup, but thanks to that poor idea the Hawks cannot make the playoffs but neither can they suck enough to win the draft lottery so they’re stuck being painfully average. Kind of like the Minnesota Wild in the 2010s.
If you asked me to make this list in 2016, I would put Bowman as first and there would not have been an argument. Bowman deserves respect for what he built and even after his massive screw up he deserves to have his job after bringing the city of Chicago three cups in 5 years. That’s a modern day dynasty, and to put in perspective: the NHL has the salary cap so that makes it almost impossible to make dynasty teams. But Bowman did that, and I do not care if he has been bad recently, he deserves to be ranked in the top 20 GMs in the NHL.
Best Moves by Bowman: Signing Artemi Panarin, Getting Niklas Hjalmersson, Kane and Toews Extensions
Worst Moves by Bowman: Panarin Trade, Brent Seabrook Contract, Attempting to Rebuild his 2015 Team
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15- Rob Blake- Los Angeles Kings
(Photo Credit: LWOS)
At this stage we start to see the good GMs pop up. Our first good general manager is LA’s GM and that is former NHLer Rob Blake. Blake joined the Kings organization as a GM in 2017, just as the Kings were looking to head into a rebuild. Blake had been through so much in the NHL previously and he was ready to do whatever it took to win a Stanley Cup one day. He realized his job in LA was to get started on a rebuild as quickly as possible and build the Kings’ future up and bulk them up for the future to win games.
Blake has done his job tremendously. He’s done everything he could to tank his team and acquire future NHL stars (such as Quinton Byfield, Alex Turcotte, Jordan Spence, Arthur Kalyiev and so many more) while trading away aging key pieces that were expiriing UFAs. To name a player, Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli was an upcoming UFA that was not looking to re-sign in LA and Blake traded him to the Vancouver Canucks for a second round pick and prospect Tyler Madden. Tyler Madden is a stud who might be a little lightweight, but he will tear it up with his outstanding goal scoring ability. With the second round pick Blake got for the Kings, he took Brock Faber. Faber is a shutdown defenceman who doesn’t put up big numbers, but instead plays solid defence. The crazy part is that the Kings need a player like him and they got that, all thanks to Blake.
Rob Blake has built a future Stanley Cup worthy team in only a couple years of rebuilding. He knows how to rebuild a team and clean up another GMs mess. In a matter of four years Blake has made the Kings a promising team and will continue to look for future key pieces, and in a couple years I would expect him to be lifting the Cup over his head in Staples Center with the team he built.
Best Moves by Blake: 2020 Trade Deadline, Drafting Quinton Byfield, Jake Muzzin Trade
Worst Moves by Blake: Ben Bishop Trade, Darcy Kuemper Trade, Tanner Pearson Trade
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14- Kelly McCrimmon- Vegas Golden Knights
(Photo Credit: NHL)
There isn’t much to say about McCrimmon. He was hired by the Golden Knights in 2019 and has made a bunch of moves. They have been pretty decent, but there is still a lot of time until I get a good feeling on him. He’s a great general manager but I still haven’t gotten a good grasp on him and his management style.
I did want to put him this high because what he has done for Vegas so far has been fantastic. He knows how to build a playoff team, and I believe he has the potential to be one of the best GMs in the league soon.
Best Moves by McCrimmon: Signing Alex Pietrangelo, Robin Lehner Trade and Contract, Chandler Stephenson Trade
Worst Moves by McCrimmon: Trading away Nate Schmidt, Mattias Janmark Trade, Paul Stasney Trade
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13- Julien BriseBois- Tampa Bay Lightning
(Photo Credit: MLHS)
Before I actually start talking about how good of a general manager he is, I need to mention how the Tampa Bay Lightning are cheaters and so is Julien BriseBois. Now I don't mean that literally, but in a figurative way I do. It’s technically not cheating because the NHL lets it happen. (Which is unacceptable but why do they care especially if it makes them money?). They take their highest paid players, and then those high paid players miss the entire season with “injuries” and then once the Lightning make the playoffs those players come back out of nowhere and the Bolts have a super-team and win the cup. BriseBois knows what he’s doing and the NHL lets it happen knowing they’re doing it. It’s cheating, but power to them knowing they can do it because there is no rule against it.
Now onto the ranking and rating. When BriseBois was named the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2018, he had a great deal of pressure and stress to take over a winning, championship worthy team. Steve Yzerman left Tampa to manage the Red Wings and BriseBois needed to win a cup in Tampa. He had this amazing team in front of him and he felt comfortable heading into the 2019 playoffs with it. We all know how that went when they got swept in round 1. BriseBois realized that Steve Yzerman literally built a superteam and he knew that he had to use this as an advantage. That’s when the salary cap cheating started. BriseBois did it, and as you might know in his second year as the GM, he and his team were crowned cup champs.
Some say that Yzerman built that team we see now, but I disagree. A lot of players were brought in by BrisBois that ended up being key pieces towards winning the Cup. BriseBois knows what to do, he’s a smart guy. He is a fantastic general manager, and if he stays in Tampa for longer, which everyone expects he will, they might win another cup soon.
Best Moves by BriseBois: Salary Cap Cheating, Trading for Ruuta, David Savard Trade
Worst Moves by BriseBois: JT Miller Trade, Blake Coleman Trade, Adam Erne Trade
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12- Brian MacLellan- Washington Capitals
(Photo Credit: NHL)
MacLellan has severely moved down the list of GM rankings quite recently as he has been losing some trades and making some wonky signings, but he deserves to be 12th after what he has done for Washington. McLellan has been the Caps’ Gm for roughly 7 years now and he’s managed to keep them good throughout. When he first joined the team he wasn’t favoured because he couldn’t get the Caps far enough in the playoffs.
That all changed in 2018 when the Capitals finally won a Stanley Cup. Caps fans finally realized that even though the Caps never went that far, McLellan made the Caps a consistently good team and finally brought them a long awaited cup. MacLellan has made the Capitals a very good team and he gets no recognition for it. He has made the Caps a fantastic team and he might be one of the most underrated GMs in the league.
The only reason I don’t have him higher is because of his recent moves. They have all been quite fortuitous. For example overpaying so much for Anthony Mantha. A first round pick, a second round pick and Jakub Vrana? What a robbery by Yzerman! And MacLellan? Well, he could do better, we’ve seen him do better. Maybe it’s the cup he won getting to his head, but he’s not the GM he once was. He deserves another shot, but if he keeps making questionable moves and the Caps keep failing in the playoffs, it might be time to move on.
Best Moves by MacLellan: Drafting Connor McMichael, TJ Oshie Trade, Dmitry Orlov Contract
Worst Moves by MacLellan: Anthony Mantha Trade, Trading Away Philipp Grubauer, Letting Barry Trotz go
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11- Doug Armstrong- St. Louis Blues
(Photo Credit: NHL)
Doug Armstrong is an amazing general manager. At this point of the article and rankings we enter the best GMs in the NHL. These guys are top notch and they undoubtedly deserve to make the biggest bucks and they are the best in the business. Doug Armatrong is exactly that. He brought a Stanley Cup to the helpless St. Louis Blues. He built a team that was struggling and he brought them to the promised land.
Armstrong was named the Blues GM back in 2010. He needed to build the team up and make them a winning team. He had to work with a mess, and he was ready. It took him 9 years in St. Louis to win a Cup, but even before the Blues won it he made them successful. He gave so many fantastic opportunities for the Blues to win but they would never capitalize. In 2019 he won a Stanley Cup in the most gutsy fashion known. The Blues went from being a dumpster fire in the NHL (that being them being in last place), and in a matter of a couple months the Blues went on and won the Stanley Cup against one of the scariest teams the Boston Bruins.
Props to Armstrong who never gave up on that team and he did everything to make the Blues a winning team. He devoted everything he had to win and he did just that. Since then the Blues have slowed down production wise but that doesn’t mean Armatrong is a bad GM. The things he’s done for the Blues, win or lose, he will go down as a fantastic GM. I would argue he is the greatest general manager the St. Louis Blues have ever had in their entire existence. At only age 56, I expect him to be a GM in the NHL for many more years.
Best Moves by Armstrong: Giving Jordan Binnington a Chance, Vladimir Tarasenko Contract, Ryan O’Reilly Trade
Worst Moves by Armstrong: Letting Alex Pietrangelo walk, Trading Away TJ Oshie, Ryan Miller Trade
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10- Jarmo Kekalainen- Columbus Blue Jackets
(Photo Credit: 1stohiobattery)
This selection that I made here might be controversial, and I see why it may be. He might have screwed up big time letting players like Duchene, Bobrovsky and Panarin walk in free agency inevitably causing the Blue Jackets to be painfully awful, but he has done a fantastic job recently. He finally gave up on Tortorella, and he realized it was time to rebuild. I will call Kekalainen “JK'' in this article.
Although JK’s past moves haven’t been good and Columbus’ fans have been calling for his head, I believe that JK has got the Blue Jackets going the right way. JK managed to get two first round picks from two different teams at the trade deadline for twoo of his upcoming UFAs. That leaves the Jackets with three first round picks in the 2021 NHL draft. I understand the 2021 draft will be weaker than usual, but three first round picks is still immense. If JK can stick with his idea of rebuilding the Jackets, he can do some really great things. JK might not be the best GM for pushing for the cup, but he is obviously a fantastic GM for rebuilding.
I see the Blue Jackets being a very successful NHL in the future, but I don’t see JK being the GM when the Jackets start winning games again. JK will be most likely fired, and then hired by another team when that team goes into a rebuild. JK will be used as a rebuilding GM because he’s so great at it. I want to compare it to Yzerman and his YzerPlan, but Yzerman is fantastic overall. JK is a fantastic GM, even if the previous have been strange and not the greatest.
Best Moves by Kekalainen: Nick Foligno Trade, David Savard Trade, Firing John Tortarella
Worst Moves by Kekalainen: Matt Duchene Trade, Letting Sergei Bobrovsky Walk, Letting Artemi Panarin Walk
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9- Lou Lamoriello- New York Islanders
(Photo Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke)
Lou Lamoriello might go down as one of the greatest general managers of all time. I don’t think that should be a debate. He has made some god awful moves, but what GM hasn’t? Lou has been heavily criticized about almost everything, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a good GM.
Lamoriello has won the “Jim Gregory” award, better known as the “GM of the year award” once in his career, and that happened less than a year ago. Lou is almost 80 years old, but he still hasn’t lost his touch. He knows how to build a good, successful, hard working team and the New York Islanders are the proof. The Islanders are an amazing team with a fantastic core and they have a chance at the Stanley Cup this year. Lamoriello has been a GM in the NHL since 1987. Many GMs get only one shot, and after around 10 years, they get laid off and they’re done. Lams has been a general manager in the NHL for 34 years and has three cups under his belt. He also knows how to coach as he has coached for two seasons in the NHL and 17 with college teams. Talk about a guy who can do everything.
Enough about his past though. Lou has built many teams before such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Islanders (still adding on to the success in NY), and he built the Devils up so good, to the point of three cup wins. He isn’t the best at contracts, Leo Komorov and Matt Martin to name a couple, but he knows how to draft and trade. He knows how to build cup worthy teams, and he knows how to win. He likes to win, he’s really passionate to win no matter the team. He likes to work with the best hockey players and he does everything in his power to make a winning hockey team. Luckily for Lou, he knows how to do that and he knows how to do it well. With three Cups won, he looks to get number four in New York, and if he sticks around things look good for him.
Best Moves by Lamoriello: Mat Barzal Contract, Jean-Gabriel Pague Trade, Kyle Palmieri Trade
Worst Moves by Lamoriello: Trading Away Devon Toews, Matt Martin Contract, Leo Komorov Contract
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8- Bill Guerin- Minnesota Wild
(Photo Credit: NHLPA)
Bill Guerin has been Minnesota’s GM for only two years, but how amazing has this guy been? Guerin has managed to save the Minnesota Wild from mediocrity, which seemed like an impossible job. Guerin decided that the Wild had to tank for a season so that they could be better, and it oddly worked. Guerin had to take a play-in loss back in the bubble, and the reward was 100% worth it.
The Wild got the 9th overall selection in the 2020 NHL entry draft, and with that pick Guerin selected Marco Rossi. Rossi had 120 points in only 56 games in the OHL in his draft year. Those are some crazy good numbers for a 9th overall pick. He did all that at only 17, and Guerin got him at ninth in 2020. So does that mean the Wild suck currently but they have a bright future? Actually, no. The Wild are a fantastic team right now with a tremendously bright future. Guerin finally signed a highly hyped prospect in Kirill Kaprizov, and it worked out as Kaprizov had 51 points in 56 games as a rookie. Kaprizov has the highest odds of winning the Calder Trophy too.
Guerin gave the Wild hope and he built a fantastic team. He made the Minnesota Wild a fun team to watch, which as I said before, seemed impossible. Guerin knows how to run a team and he knows how to fleece other NHL GMs and even players’ scouts. For example Cam Talbot. Talbot signed for just over 3 million this off-season, and he’s been a dark horse vezina worthy goalie. Guerin has made the Minnesota Wild a fantastic team with a promising future, and because of that I think he is a top 10 GM in the NHL.
Best Moves by Guerin: Bringing in Kaprizov, Jason Zucker Trade, Drafting Marco Rossi
Worst Moves by Guerin: Nick Bonino Trade, Ian Cole Trade
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7- Marc Bergevin- Montreal Canadiens
(Photo Credit: sportsne)
Habs fans hate this guy, but nobody understands why. My guess is because if you mess up once around Montreal media, you will forever be shamed and frowned upon by the fanbase of Montreal. This isn’t throwing shade, in fact it’s actually good to have such a passionate and hard driven fanbase, it just makes it harder for players, GMs, and coaches to be in Montreal. Bergevin has been a victim of that.
Overall, Bergevin is an amazing GM. Barely any flaws, perfect speaker, hard working, and unstoppable when it comes to contracts. The issue with him, is that if you ask any habs fan about him they’ll tell you they want him gone. That’s because I believe that the media in Montreal has labeled him as a bad GM, or lightly put “not good enough”. Habs fans want to win, they’re used to being the best. Their 24 Stanley Cups drive them to be the best and win. Bergevin is a perfect GM but Habs fans don’t realize how lucky they are to have him as a GM. Bergevin knows how to deal. He may not be the smartest guy advanced analytics wise, but he knows how to make a good team. Bergevin knows how to get the best of a players contract. For example Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli signed a cheap 4.25 million dollar contract and was expected to be nothing more than a 40 point player in an 82 game season, but out of nowhere he made Bergevin look like a genius and scored 28 goals in 56 games and put up 44 points.
Bergevin has been Montreal’s GM since May of 2012, so he isn’t a stranger to the organization. Montreal has been a good team but they haven’t been able to go far ever since Bergevin joined. The Habs have been unlucky, honestly. They’ve been screwed by the old GM’s contracts and bad planning so Bergevin had to do whatever he could out of whatever he had. He did go through a quick re-tool with Montreal, and ever since then the Canadiens have only been getting better and better.
Best Moves by Bergevin: Trading for Nick Suzuki, Trading for Jeff Petry, Drafting Cole Caufield
Worst Moves by Bergevin: Jonathan Drouin Trade, Karl Alzner Contract, Forcing Andrei Markov to Leave
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6- Don Sweeney- Boston Bruins
(Photo credit: Christopher Evans/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
You thought Montreal media pressured their fans into hating their own general manager? I guess you’ve never seen Don Sweeney and the Boston Bruins. Don Sweeney has been nothing but fantastic for the Bruins, but apparently it isn’t enough for the city of Boston. Sweeney hasn’t won a cup in Boston (...yet) but he has managed to maintain Boston as a good team. The issue with the Bruins is that their core is rapidly aging and they don’t have that much time to win before all their stars decline and retire.
What Sweeney has done to keep this team looking young and playing like a top 5 team has been nothing short of incredible. We don’t know how Sweeney is like with a rebuilding or re-tooling team, but we know how he is with a good team. He knows how to keep an expiring-looking team fresh by trading for younger players while mixing in the vets. For example Taylor Hall. He managed to get a former Hart trophy winner for a second round pick. If that isn’t impressive then I don’t know what is. Sweeney can bring in other vets, like Craig Smith, who might have not had good seasons and then get revived by the yellow and black and do really well. Sweeney can keep a good team good and to me, that doesn’t matter if they don’t win a cup at this point. The fact that Boston is still a playoff team after all their stars being 50 years old (joke), is crazy. Sweeney knows how to get the best out of his players and he knows how to make a winning team.
Even though Sweeney has been nothing but amazing for Boston, he has had some major failures, and his first one was just a month into his job. It was the day 1 of the 2015 draft, a draft that might be one of the greatest drafts of all time. Players like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Mat Barzal, Brock Boeser, Ivan Provorov, Kyle Connor, Thomas Chabot, Travis Konecny, and Mikko Rantanen were in that draft. (By the way, I cut out so many other fantastic players. That’s how good this draft was). The Boston Bruins had hit the jackpot as they had three first round picks and those three picks were the 13th, 14th and 15th overall picks. Three straight picks for Sweeney and the Bruins. And with those three picks the Bruins selected Thomas Chabot, Mathew Barzal, and Kyle Connor! Wait what? They didn’t? Oh yea, with those three picks Sweeney picked Zachary Senyshen, Jake DeBrusk, and Jakub Zboril. Those three players combined have produced only 146 points for the bruins while players like Mathew Barzal, who was drafted at 15th has 252 career points. Basically, Sweeney messed up. That’s what gave Sweeney a bad rep. Although that issue was the worst start for a GM you could imagine, that doesn’t mean he’s bad. He is one of the best GMs in the league and if he doesn’t win a cup with Boston, he will sometime soon with another team.
Best Moves by Sweeney: Taylor Hall Trade, Drafting Charlie McAvoy, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak Contracts
Worst Moves by Sweeney: 2015 1st Round, Trading Dougie Hamilton Away, David Backes Contract
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5- Kyle Dubas- Toronto Maple Leafs
(Photo Credit: COLN)
Here we go, the top 5 general managers in the National Hockey League. These guys are the best in the business and these guys lead the example to what every NHL franchise wants in a GM. These guys are top notch and they deserve a Stanley Cup, even if they have one already. To start us off with number 5, we have Toronto’s general manager, Kyle Dubas.
Kyle Dubas is an amazing general manager in every single possible way you can think of. He signs good contracts, he makes great trades, he drafts perfect prospects. As a Canucks fan I must admit I am heavily jealous of the Leafs because of Dubas. Dubas is fantastic GM. He’s young, he’s smart and one of the best parts about him is his personality and how he actually cares for his players and the game of hockey. He loves his players and he treats them like humans and friends unlike some other GMs around the league. He knows how to talk to his players and communicate. Not only is he a great person, but he also knows how to make a good team. He built the Leafs. He traded for a ton of their stars, he can handle cap well and he knows what his team needs. Leafs needed a tough guy? Dubas signed Wayne Simmonds on July 1st. Leafs need goal scoring? Dubas will personally hire a shooting coach for Auston Matthews. Dubas knows what his team needs because he doesn’t miss a beat. He can analyze his team, see what Toronto needs, and the next day he’s got the issue solved.
Dubas will win a Stanley Cup as a GM in his career. I doubt it’ll be with the Leafs, but he will win. He will be a general manager in the NHL for many years. He’s 35; he’s only getting started. If he’s good right now, and I’m talking top 5 good, imagine how good he can be in 10 years. I’m a Canucks fan so it pains me to say it, but Kyle Dubas has the potential to be the greatest GM in the history of the NHL. I wish I were kidding but based on what he’s done so far, and his age, he has the potential to do some great things. He loves the game and his players, and his players and the game loves him. Kyle Dubas is a certified hockey guy.
Best Moves by Dubas: Signing John Tavares, Firing Mike Babcock and Hiring Sheldon Keefe, Extending Matthews
Worst Moves: Patrick Marleau Trade, Trading for Tyson Barrie, Josh Leivo Trade
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4- Bill Zito- Florida Panthers
(Photo credit: Miami Herald)
Might be a wild card putting a gM that was hired less than a year ago in the top 5, but in all honesty that’s what Bill Zito deserves. In Zito’s first year in Florida, he’s already considered a top GM in the league and his name has been thrown around when the GM of the year award is mentioned. Zito has some crazy talents that other Gms don’t have and this is what they are.
The first one is giving a fanbase in apathy hope and happiness. Zito came into Florida with a positive mindset and was looking to make the Panthers a serious contender. He immediately came in and traded away a horrible contract for a really good player. Zito’s first move in Florida was trading away Mike Matheson for Patric Hornqvist. That turned out to be fantastic for Florida as Matheson was moved, they cleared cap space and got an even better player out of the trade. He later drafted an amazing player at the 12th spot in the NHL entry draft. Zito selected a forward from Finland by the name of Anton Lundell. Lundell immediately made an impact for Panthers fans when Lundell tore up the Finnish leagues. Zito just selected a star forward with a bright future at 12th overall. Free agency was even better than anything we have seen from Zito. Bill Zito signed Carter Verhaeghe to a two year deal worth 1 million dollars per. To make it more understandable, Zito signed a player who had 36 points in 43 games for one million dollars. He also picked up Duclair and gave Chris Driedger a real chance in the NHL. Zito brought success immediately to Florida when the Panthers finished second in the Central Division. Even when Zito traded a second round pick for Sam Bennett, it turned out to be a steal. Bennett went from averaging 0.34 PPG in his career to having 15 points in 10 games in Florida. Zito knew something we didn’t, and it worked.
Ever since Bill Zito became the general manager of the Florida Panthers, everything has gone right for them. They became a good team once again, they look to succeed now while having a bright and talented future, and arguably most importantly, they made Panthers fans happy and willing to watch games again.Before Zito, the Panthers were a painfully mediocre team that got nowhere, and one man managed to change that all in a matter of six months. Zito absolutely deserves to be in the top 5 and I am sure he will be a top two or three GM in a couple of years.
Best Moves by Zito: Carter Verhaeghe Signing, Patric Hornqvist Trade, Sam Bennett Trade
Worst Moves by Zito: -
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3- Steve Yzerman- Detroit Red Wings
(Photo Credit: NHL)
Before you go off at me for having Yzerman and the Yzermanat three and not number one, I want to remind you these rankings are purely based off of what the GM has done for their current team. If it was all time, Yzerman would have been higher. This doesn’t mean that Yzerman isn’t good, because he is arguably the best. The top 3 is where it got very hard for me. These top three GMs are so good that I wish that I could rank them all at one, but that doesn’t work. That’s why even though I am having second thoughts, it's impossible to make up my mind.
At number three we have one of the greatest hockey players to ever exist and one of the best general managers to ever exist, Steve Yzerman. Yzerman only makes good moves. I have honestly never seen him make a bad move. Everything he does seems so smart and he just seems like he’s all got it down. His draft choices are usually wacky, such as Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, but they always work out. Seider was a wild card, but he has suddenly become one of the best NHL-affiliated prospects right now. We can’t forget how Yzerman built Tampa’s superteam, and by the looks of it, he might do the same with Detroit. Yzerman has done only positive things for Detroit and the fans are all trusting of Yzerman and his Yzerplan. The Yzerplan being him rebuilding Detroit and then making them a championship winning team with unstoppable forwards and defence.
If Yzerman could be the GM of my favourite team, I would be ultimately happy. Yzerman is simply one of the bests out there and he deserves a Stanley Cup as a general manager. Yzerman is the perfect mix of being a down to business GM while having a big heart and caring for his players. Yzerman’s skill and hard working strategies have earned him spot number three on my ranking of NHL general managers.
Best Moves by Yzerman: Anthony Mantha Trade, Drafting Moritz Seider, Drafting Lucas Raymond
Worst Moves by Yzerman: Signing Thomas Greiss
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2- Don Wadell- Carolina Hurricanes
(Photo Credit: NHL)
What Don Waddell has done for Raleigh has been life changing. He turned a helpless organization around that didn’t want to be in Carolina, into one of the best teams in the NHL. Waddell ascended from the Heavens up above to the city of Raleigh on May 8th, 2018. The 2018 NHL draft was coming up very soon and the Carolina Hurricanes had the second overall selection. Wadell realized this team wanted to win immediately and he got to work the second he was hired.
Waddell started to make moves and bring in good players. That included drafting a high scoring Russian forward by the name of Andrei Svechnikov second overall in 2018. Wadell realized that his team’s potential was sky high and he made the best of it. Within two years of his hard work, he made Carolina one of the most dangerous and scary teams to play in the NHL. He brought in a ton of starts and produced so much young talent that caused all of this success. I know Wadell is proud of himself, and he should be. Not every GM can make a horrible NHL team with no future this good in three years, except for Don Wadell.
Wadell has yet to face his biggest challenge though. This off-season will determine his ranking for good. He needs to re-sign a ton of players which include Andrei Svechnikov and Dougie Hamilton. I was sceptical of putting Wadell up this high because there are so many other amazing GMs out there, but after some long thought I personally think he deserves it. He’s simply one of the bests in the league, and after only three years in Carolina Don Wadell turned the Hurricanes from the jokes of the league, to a Stanley Cup favourite.
Best Moves by Wadell: Drafting Andrei Svechnikov, Vincent Trocheck Trade, Dougie Hamilton Trade
Worst Moves by Wadell: Trading Away Adam Fox, Trading for Erik Haula, Trading Julien Gauthier for Joey Keane
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1- Joe Sakic- Colorado Avalanche
(Photo Credit: NHL)
Well we finally made it. The best GM in the NHL. May I present to you the general manager of the Colorado Avalanche, Joe Sakic. Joe Sakic will forever be remembered as one of the greatest hockey players to ever play the game. He is a multiple time Stanley Cup champion, multiple record holder and he tore it up in the league when he played with the Avs. On September 19th, 2014 the Colorado Avalanche missed having Burnaby Joe in their system so much, they named him the general manager.
That’s when the fun began. It took them a while, but Joe Sakic rebuilt a struggling NHL team into one of the best teams in the NHL, and a Cup favourite. Sakic came back to Colorado with the mindset that they needed to rebuild to bring them back to the glory days of the late 1990s and early 200s when the Avs ruled the world. Sakic wanted the city of Denver to have what they once had, and it looks like Sakic did exactly that. I don’t know how he does it, but Sakic always seems to end up winning. Whether it’s a trade, a signing, or a draft pick it always goes his way. Other general managers across the NHL must be terrified to deal with Sakic because they know Burnaby Joe would absolutely embarrass them with his trade skills. Sakic not only knows how to treat his players with respect and kindness,but he gives the players what they want without it even being an issue. All the success you see the Avs in today, all came from Sakic. MacKinnon for example makes only 6.3 million dollars yearly. Can you imagine the second best hockey player in the world on your team making only 6.3 million dollars against the cap? Sakic doesn’t need to because he gave Mack that contract.
Sakic also drafted Mikko Rantanen in 2015. Rantanen as you may know is one of the best wingers in the National Hockey league. He’s a pure sniper; it’s in his blood. He knows how to play hard and how to get pucks on net and he contributes to Colorado’s success. Sakic brought him to Denver, and now he is one of the biggest reasons the Avs are so good. Sakic also is responsible for getting elite goaltender Philipp Grubauer in a trade with Washington. Grub has become one of the best goalies in the NHL, and Sakic brought him to Colorado for only a second round pick. Sakic also drafted Cale Makar to the Avalanche, as well as Bowen Byram.
Those moves may all be amazing, but Sakic’s biggest heist was the Matt Duchene three way trade. Duchene was moved to Ottawa in exchange for Andrew Hammond, Shane Bowers, a 1st round pick, a 2nd round pick, a 3rd round pick, Samuel Girard, and Vladislav Kamanev. To break it down, Sakic traded away a player who didn’t want to be in Colorado for Shane Bowers (who is a highly anticipated prospect), star defenceman Sam Girard, and the draft picks ended up being Bowen Byram, Matthew Steinburg, and that third rounder was later traded. So basically, Sakic got a future prodigy in Bowen Byram, a future third liner-second liner in Shane Bowers, a currently top 20 NHL defenceman in Sam Girard and a somewhat decent prospect in Matthew Steinburg in exchange for an average, overrated player who didn’t want to be in Colorado. That might be one of the biggest fleeces in NHL history.
Thanks to Joe Sakic being the mastermind he is, and being so good at drafting and trading and anything you can think of, I think he has earned himself a spot as the best general manager in the NHL. Sakic is unfair. He’s unfair because he’s so smart and he’s so good at his job. Thanks to his genius moves, the Colorado Avalanche will win multiple Stanley Cups in the future, and Joe Sakic might have made a very rare modern day dynasty.
Best Moves by Sakic: The Matt Duchene Heist, Nathan MacKinnon Contract, Drafting Cale Makar
Worst Moves by Sakic: Trading Ryan O’Reilly for Nikita Zadaorov, Letting Varlamov Walk in Free Agency, Letting Vladislav Namestnikov Walk in Free Agency
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The job of an NHL general manager is insanely hard. None of these gentlemen have it easy. Thes guys work 24/7 in hopes of getting their team to succeed whether it’s immediately or in the future and these guys have devoted their lives to what they do. Even though many of them don’t seem like they know what they’re doing, it is always important to realize that these guys have some of the toughest jobs in the sports world, and the amount of pressure they have on them is eye widening. That concludes my rankings of NHL general managers.
I hope you did enjoy and maybe learned something about your team’s general manager as you read through this article. If you enjoyed it, please consider signing up for my newsletter and every time I post an article you will get an email.
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