Top 10 General Managers?

[Bleedred]

It's very funny to see Garth Snow on these lists. Couple years ago he was the joke of the league.

I don't get the love affair with Yzerman either. He inherited a lot of talent, and drafting/scouting have Been crucial in TBs success.

I'm with you. I don't get lists that include guys like Benning (first year on the job, no prior experience as a head GM) or Jim Nill (second year on the job, no prior experience as a head GM). The only guys that should be locks are Bowman, Lombardi, Murray (the one in Anaheim), Armstrong, Chiarelli, and possibly Poile.

Any lists that include guys like Benning, Nill, Snow, and even Yzerman and Bergevin to an extent, should be reserved for the lists of ''Top 10 General Managers of the 2014-2015 season''

Yzerman has been good for almost a couple years now, but I remember some questionable moves early on. I actually thought he was in danger of becoming the next Joe Nieuwendyk only two years ago. A former player, who completely flopped as a GM. That Lindback trade was a complete joke too. I thought it was complete overpayment, even before it turned out that Lindback would be a complete bust as a starting goaltender. Then he wound up going out and getting Bishop anyway, which was a MUCH better move.

Garth Snow had one of the best offseason's in the league, but many Islanders fans were calling for his head last year. Yeah the drafting has been good for most of his time there, but there were a lot of moves that Islanders fans were livid with. Even as of this past Summer before he got Halak.

I'd give a little more time for before cementing Yzerman there, an even longer time for cementing Snow there, and maybe just as long for Benning and Nill. Nill has had a GREAT start, but he's only been a head GM for a season and a half now.

These lists are so fickle, last year guys like Fletcher and CBJ GM would have been in the top 10, but since their teams aren't in the playoff picture right now, people wouldn't put them on the list this year. They've been replaced by GM's who've only been good for this season, or ones who just became GM's before this season.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

It's very funny to see Garth Snow on these lists. Couple years ago he was the joke of the league.

I don't get the love affair with Yzerman either. He inherited a lot of talent, and drafting/scouting have Been crucial in TBs success.

And the GM isn't in charge of drafting and scouting? You don't find it a coincidence that the other team that has done a great job the last 5 years in scouting, drafting and development is the team Yzerman came from?

Just for that alone, Holland is still top-10, but he's been way too conservative in trading, and has made one decent FA signing in 5 years (Alfie, who kinda fell in his lap anyway).

 

[Savannah Skunk]

Where is the love for Brian Murray?

He may have never won the cup, but it can be said that he was instrumental in building/drafting a couple of teams that did (Anaheim, Detroit). A classy gentleman, student and lover of the game of Hockey, a hall of fame-esque tenure in the NHL, currently icing a competitive rebuilding team on a shoestring budget while fighting stage 4 cancer yet potentially laying the foundation for a future Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Murray's draft this year will be interesting and judging by his track record, very good. I would give him top contention for top-ten GM.

 

[Bleedred]

Where is the love for Brian Murray?

He may have never won the cup, but it can be said that he was instrumental in building/drafting a couple of teams that did (Anaheim, Detroit). A classy gentleman, student and lover of the game of Hockey, a hall of fame-esque tenure in the NHL, currently icing a competitive rebuilding team on a shoestring budget while fighting stage 4 cancer yet potentially laying the foundation for a future Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Murray's draft this year will be interesting and judging by his track record, very good. I would give him top contention for top-ten GM.

He's definitely not bad. I don't think Ottawa is a fantastically built team, but I don't blame him as much as Melnyk. Murray is on a budget and not allowed to spend to the cap.

I liked that he went out and got Ryan after Alfie left. People probably would have listed Ottawa's Murray two years ago when they were a playoff team, which goes back to my points about flavor of the year.

A couple of these guys will be off the lists next year and replaced with someone else having a good year. In the unlikely (highly unlikely event) that Edmonton has a huge year next year, you'll see frickin MacTavish on these lists next year. Chevaldayoff was a JOKE his entire GM career so far and he's making it on these lists because Winnipeg is having a good year.

Lombardi, Bowman, Bob Murray, Chiarelli, Armstrong, and possibly Poile and Holland. Those are the only ones that should definitely be in the top IMO.

 

[JaegerDice]

Bowman is a bottom 10 GM. Don't be fooled, he inherited a good team and probably made it slightly worse.

He took a team crippled by his predecessor's cap mismanagement and rebuilt it into a cup winner in 2 years.

He's been good.

Not as good as Lombardi, but nobody is.

Recency effect obviously impacts opinions, but personally I would go:

01) Dean Lombardi
02) Stan Bowman
03) Peter Chiarelli
04) Steve Yzerman
05) Bob Murray
06) Doug Wilson
07) Jim Nill*
08) David Poille
09) John Davidson*
10) Marc Bergevin*

* Some of this ranking is based on the work/rep they had in their previous organizations (Detroit, St Louis, and Chicago, respectively). Technically JD isn't a GM in Columbus, but he's probably still involved in hockey decisions, right? He certainly does a lot of press regarding the contract signings and whatnot, so I figure he's in the room with Jarmo there.

 

[obey86]

Where is the love for Brian Murray?

He may have never won the cup, but it can be said that he was instrumental in building/drafting a couple of teams that did (Anaheim, Detroit). A classy gentleman, student and lover of the game of Hockey, a hall of fame-esque tenure in the NHL, currently icing a competitive rebuilding team on a shoestring budget while fighting stage 4 cancer yet [I]potentially[/I] laying the foundation for a future Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Murray's draft this year will be interesting and judging by his track record, very good. I would give him top contention for top-ten GM.

lol, no.

They should probably just make the playoffs first before you go around saying they are a potential future Eastern powerhouse.

 

[Whileee]

Pulled off arguably the biggest coup in the past 5 years, and followed it up with landing Spezza. Those two things completely changed the complexion of the Stars going forward, regardless if they miss the playoffs this year.

Seguin trade was a home run.

I think the jury is still out on the moves for Spezza (trade and contract). That might not look too great in the next few years, and it evidently hasn't put them over the top yet.

 

[obey86]

Pulled off arguably the biggest coup in the past 5 years, and followed it up with landing Spezza. Those two things completely changed the complexion of the Stars going forward, regardless if they miss the playoffs this year.

The Seguin trade was excellent obviously, but more important in judging a GM is the performance of the team. So far for Nill we have a single 8th seed playoff appearance/1st round exit and this season the Stars would currently be out of the playoffs if they started today.



Not really much of a history to go on to say he is great...or really even good. Time will tell obviously.

 

[19NYSports91]

Garth Snow is interesting. The guy has been a disaster trade wise but his scouts (or maybe himself) have drafted very well. That alone has made the Islanders into a really good team with a young core. Is it Garth Snow? Or is it the scouts?.

Montreal has employed Trevor Timmins for many years now, he's been around when Gainey and Gauthier were GMs of this team. Both Gainey and Gauthier were a disaster yet Timmins drafted very well.

I'm not willing to give Snow credit for their draft picks, which in my opinion still makes him one of the worst GMs in the league. Expect another terrible trade from him soon.

As for best GMs. It's hard to make a top 5 list in order, but I feel we have to include Yzerman (TB) , Lombardi (LA) , Poile (NSH), Holland (DET) and Nill (DAL). Outside contenders are Bergevin (MTL), Bowman (CHI) and Armstrong (STL)

How? He made one bad trade (Vanek) lol....People always think Garth signed DP to that ridiculous contract, which isn't true. You forgot to mention the Leddy and Boychuk trades, which is a good reason that the team is in first right now.

Also, everyone forgets to mention how good Garth is with signing players to a very low price. Not his fault the owner is very cheap.

Tavares 5.5
Okposo 2.8
Nielsen 2.75
Hamonic 3.85
de Haan 1.9
Halak 4.5

 

[The Macho King]

For all the "talent" that Yzerman inherited, there are only two players on the roster that were there when he came in. Admittedly, those two players are Stamkos and Hedman, but literally the rest of the team is his.

 

[IdealisticSniper]

It's very funny to see Garth Snow on these lists. Couple years ago he was the joke of the league.

I don't get the love affair with Yzerman either. He inherited a lot of talent, and drafting/scouting have Been crucial in TBs success.

Please. First off who do you think hired the entire scouting department that has done so well?

And Yzerman has lost one trade in his entire tenure here and he's made quite a few. Every other trade has either been lateral, good, or a ****ing home run. And most of them border on the home run.

He has also managed the cap perfectly thus far and set the team up to be contenders for the foreseeable future.

He came to TB when TB was a bottom feeder NHL team and one of the worst prospect pools in the NHL. 5 years later and they are set up to be perennial Stanley cup contenders and have arguably the best prospect pool in the NHL, even with all the recent graduates.

If he isn't a top 5 GM, I don't know who is.

 

[IdealisticSniper]

Oh and Id love to see any other GM turn a 37 year old winger who is declining and demanding to get traded to only one team, get a return of a younger power forward AND two 1st round picks.

Good luck.

 

[seafoam]

It's very funny to see Garth Snow on these lists. Couple years ago he was the joke of the league.

I don't get the love affair with Yzerman either. He inherited a lot of talent, and drafting/scouting have Been crucial in TBs success.

I don't think it's that funny. What Snow was doing under the circumstances he was given really flew over a lot of people's heads.

A lot of things we're assumed or looked at negatively simply because they were the Islanders.

 

[landfill]

I don't think it's that funny. What Snow was doing under the circumstances he was given really flew over a lot of people's heads.

A lot of things we're assumed or looked at negatively simply because they were the Islanders.

Yeah he had a great off season and probably made one of the best trades of the year to shore up his defence.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Oh and Id love to see any other GM turn a 37 year old winger who is declining and demanding to get traded to only one team, get a return of a younger power forward AND two 1st round picks.

Good luck.

He was at a 40 goal/PPG pace.. The year previous he won the Art Ross.

Youre confusing declining with aging.

Off the top of my head the Vanek trade to NYI trumps the MSL trade.

 

[salsa man]

I'll give it a shot...

1. Dean Lombardi (LAK)
2. Steve Yzerman (TBL)
3. David Poile (NSH)
4. Stan Bowman (CHI)
5. Marc Bergevin (MTL)
6. Bob Murray (ANA)
7. Garth Snow (NYI)
8. Peter Chiarelli (BOS)
9. Jim Nill (DAL)
10. Jim Benning (VAN)

When you consider how overpaid Richards (yes, I realize he was traded there), Brown, Stoll, and a few others are, you can't put Lombardi at #1. He's top 10, but not #1. Yes, he has 2 cups, but that doesn't override everything.

 

[Cashville]

Garth Snow is interesting. The guy has been a disaster trade wise but his scouts (or maybe himself) have drafted very well. That alone has made the Islanders into a really good team with a young core. Is it Garth Snow? Or is it the scouts?.

Montreal has employed Trevor Timmins for many years now, he's been around when Gainey and Gauthier were GMs of this team. Both Gainey and Gauthier were a disaster yet Timmins drafted very well.

I'm not willing to give Snow credit for their draft picks, which in my opinion still makes him one of the worst GMs in the league. Expect another terrible trade from him soon.

As for best GMs. It's hard to make a top 5 list in order, but I feel we have to include Yzerman (TB) , Lombardi (LA) , Poile (NSH), Holland (DET) and Nill (DAL). Outside contenders are Bergevin (MTL), Bowman (CHI) and Armstrong (STL)

I would swap Nill with Bowman and add Murray as an HM, but otherwise I think this is pretty good.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Pulled off arguably the biggest coup in the past 5 years, and followed it up with landing Spezza. Those two things completely changed the complexion of the Stars going forward, regardless if they miss the playoffs this year.

I'll give you Seguin.
Spezza? Not that impressive and longer term he will likely start to decline soon.
I'd also dock him for icing that defensive corp.

 

[Raspewtin]

Oh and Id love to see any other GM turn a 37 year old winger who is declining and demanding to get traded to only one team, get a return of a younger power forward AND two 1st round picks.

Good luck.

In what world is Callahan a power forward?

 

[Frank Drebin]

In what world is Callahan a power forward?

In a world where you are trying to make a trade look better than it is.

 

[frivolousz21]

The blues are ****ing loaded.

However most of it goes back to JD, Jarmo, and Pleau regime.

Although I believe Armstrong made the EJ for Shatty and Stewart trade.

The Perron trade was a bust so far.

The Miller trade was a huge bust outside of getting Stewart off the books.

Bringing in Lehtera has been solid.

Signing Ott was a total waste.

The Stasny deal is great with the term. So was the Steen deal.

But those are still pretty softball set ups.

I will give him some major props. He was wrong about Miller and going with a higher priced goalie.

Going with Ells at 2.5 mil term for 3 years is just a great move that frees up 3-4 million for Tank and Schwartz instead of paying Miller or someone else to be worse than Ells.

 

[IdealisticSniper]

He was at a 40 goal/PPG pace.. The year previous he won the Art Ross.

Youre confusing declining with aging.

Off the top of my head the Vanek trade to NYI trumps the MSL trade.

He was and is declining. Doesn't mean he's not still a good player. Considering I have watched him for damn near 15 years, I think I know a little more than you. Also did Vanek demand to go to one team only? No. The return wasn't even close as good either.

In what world is Callahan a power forward?

In the new NHL, Callahan is a power forward. Just how it is.

In a world where you are trying to make a trade look better than it is.

I don't need much to make it look better. Callahan has 1 more point than St Louis, is much younger, and TB got two extra 1st round picks out of it. I'll take that all day considering the situation Yzerman was put into.

 

[Voight]

Is Poile a Top 5 GM ? ... I think he has to take his team to the SCF or win the Stanley Cup to solidify him as a Top 5 and this is coming from a Preds fan ... seems like he's really good at building a team, but unfortunately he has yet to pull in the proper pieces at the very end to put the team over the top.

He built the Caps team that went to the Finals in 98, although he was the Preds GM by then.

Where is the love for Brian Murray?

He may have never won the cup, but it can be said that he was instrumental in building/drafting a couple of teams that did (Anaheim, Detroit). A classy gentleman, student and lover of the game of Hockey, a hall of fame-esque tenure in the NHL, currently icing a competitive rebuilding team on a shoestring budget while fighting stage 4 cancer yet potentially laying the foundation for a future Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Murray's draft this year will be interesting and judging by his track record, very good. I would give him top contention for top-ten GM.

He isn't top 10. Good GM but hasn't done anything spectacular.

I'll give you Seguin.
Spezza? Not that impressive and longer term he will likely start to decline soon.
I'd also dock him for icing that defensive corp.

Yea but he really didn't give up that much for Spezza. Paul looks like a good prospect but other than that he got him for pretty cheap. The contract may seem like a bit much but Spezza was getting that on the open market regardless.

And lol @ people saying the MSL trade was bad. Yzerman did fantastic given he could only make a deal with Sather, a good two-way player in Cally and two first round picks for an aging MSL. i get its a big loss but Yzerman did ok given the extreme circumstances.

 

[Devilspuppet666]

Brad Treliving has been okay, but there's not much of a playbook on him.

Almost all of his UFA signings and his first trade have sucked badly this year.

Bollig - Waste of a 3rd and a roster spot
Engelland - 3 million for 3 years on a 7th defenseman
Raymond - 3 mill for 3 years on a guy that has only been marginally better than Devin Setoguchi this year.
Setoguchi - Low risk/reward signing. He's already in Adirondack.

Only Jonas Hiller and the Shore-Knight trade have been good moves thus far.

so far i really dislike Treliving but im going to be patient

 

[Brainiac]

In no particular order:

-Holland, Poile and Yzerman are certainly up there. Should be on everyone's list.

-Chiarelli... I don't know. I feel he's overrated as of now. Character and grit is fine, but you need to have some talent as well. And some of their contracts will start to look bad sooner than later.

-Garth Snow is totally overrated just because the Islanders are having a great year so far.

-Bergevin:

He won't make moves very often, but when he does, it's always risk-free, incremental improvements. And we basically have zero dead wood on the team moving forward. Bergevin got rid of every dead cap space and redundant assets (Bourque, Moen, Budaj).

His only glaring mistake was that stupid bridge deal to PK Subban. Bergevin decided to play it hard and Subban did the same the second time around.