It's really a terribly run poll. It's ambiguous and subject to interpretation. Like the first one, what constitutes a "great deal" for an agent's client? Seems like a lot of people immediately assume that it has only to do with the size of the contracts he hands out, but that is likely an incorrect assumption. Some agents may interpret it that way, but others may interpret it like the GM does everything in his power to make sure the client is well-taken care of:
- Dubas trades Leivo to give him a chance to play elsewhere when he could have decided to protect a valuable asset instead.
- Dubas visits Mikheyev in the hospital personally to ensure that he is recovering well and feels comfortable. Most GM's do not do that.
- Dubas set up a multi-tier development system which gives younger players who may need more time to develop an ample opportunity and resources to develop while also earning a competitive wage.
- He called up various Marlies over the course of the year to let them earn an NHL paycheck for at least one day, even if they never ended up playing (Bracco, Agostino, Gaudet, etc.). They earned 7x what they would normally earn in that day, which is substantial when you are making around 100k otherwise.
On top of the prestige and comforts that come from playing for a team that is constantly making the playoffs and spares no expense to make sure their players can be their best. All of these agents have far more clients who are never going to be able to demand a large money contract, or will be lucky to get any kind of contract they can get. So other things beyond money and contract terms typically matter to those guys.
If that poll wanted to know who was the GM who handed out the worst contracts, they should have worded the question as such. Or worded it literally like they did with the question about which contracts are hurting their teams the most right now... Funny enough, none of Dubas' deals received a single vote on that list.
