BriseBois did a few good trades to a stacked team in 2020. But he's also made plenty of bad moves since then. Suppose Yzerman could be compared to someone who spent life building a house. So that house would survive the huge storm, but storm never came. Then new person moves in and adds a few window storm coverings. Then huge nasty storm comes not long after and house survives. Who helped house more so? Both did, but still..... I've given BriseBois major credit for moves he made, but at same time give Yzerman his due too. The million dollar question, has BriseBois come to terms with this at GM meetings and such? No matter, after this Stamkos ordeal... The GM can kick rocks and don't care what he gets credit for. He's ruined that legacy and ironically cemented Yzerman's legacy more so.
Woof what a terrible terrible post…
Julien Brisebois was one of the brightest young executive in hockey. He had a big impact in working on the reform of the constitution of the QJMHL before he was 24 yrs old.
He then spent 9 years working for Montreal, became their youngest VP of Hockey Operation and managed the Canadiens’s AHL affiliate to the Calder Cup.
One of the first move that Steve Yzerman did in 2010 when he became the Tampa Bay Lightning GM was to poach Julien Brisebois from Montreal.
That was a brilliant move by Yzerman, as Brisebois was already a master with anything related to collective bargaining agreements and contracts negotiations, plus he had the Quebec territory on lock down.
You think Yzerman built this house brick by brick alone, and Brisebois came in after to put on a few windows !?
They built this thing together from day one. Julien Brisebois was involved in all aspects of player personnel decisions, analytics, player development, contract preparation and negotiation.
Brisebois’ reputation among his peers and the rest of the hockey world is excellent.
Yzerman’s legacy as a GM ?
One things I will give him is that smart executives surround themselves with smarter people than them, and/or with complementary skills. And he did just that with Brisebois in Tampa Bay. That was the foundation upon was everything else was built.
Now let’s see if he can replicate his success without leaning on JBB.