Top 5 best GMs currently

[Double Dion]

I guess it depends on what you're basing it on.

I look at most of the lists here and it's not factoring things in well IMO. I'd have my top GM as Hughes and I'm not a Habs fan or hater. Lots of lists have Zito, Nill, Brisebois, McCrimmon. I have to note it's damn easy being a GM in a nice weather city with no state taxes. Being a GM in the highest tax market in the league with Canadian winter and TWO contingents of media is a herculean task.

Kent Hughes is the best GM I've seen in the league. Wins most of his trades, sometimes by a wide margin. Heck, he somehow got TWO 1st round picks for Monahan. He's drafted well, hired the right coach for this stage of their development and managed the terrible cap situation he inherited well.

I could be the GM of the Panthers. Not a hard job in todays player climate.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

yzerman

 

[Laus723]

I guess it depends on what you're basing it on.

I look at most of the lists here and it's not factoring things in well IMO. I'd have my top GM as Hughes and I'm not a Habs fan or hater. Lots of lists have Zito, Nill, Brisebois, McCrimmon. I have to note it's damn easy being a GM in a nice weather city with no state taxes. Being a GM in the highest tax market in the league with Canadian winter and TWO contingents of media is a herculean task.

Kent Hughes is the best GM I've seen in the league. Wins most of his trades, sometimes by a wide margin. Heck, he somehow got TWO 1st round picks for Monahan. He's drafted well, hired the right coach for this stage of their development and managed the terrible cap situation he inherited well.

I could be the GM of the Panthers. Not a hard job in todays player climate.

Lmao, wtf? You could’ve cleaned up the contract mess left by Tallon? Traded Matheson for Horny? Brought in Gudas, both guys helped change the the identity of the team. You could’ve realized the Reinhart, Montour, Bennett, and Verhaeghe all would’ve fit well together and brought them in through smart trades or signings? You would’ve figured out Forsling needed to be snatched up? And to top off only what I mentioned, you would’ve been smart enough to trade a guy who just had a massive career year and a top pair defender for Tkachuk, AND re-signed him to a great deal!?

To quote Kevin McAllister…”I don’t think so!”

 

[Hale The Villain]

Being the GM of a team like the Panthers is definitely playing on easy mode, but that doesn't negate a lot of the great work Zito has done.

Any team could have added Forsling for almost nothing prior to Zito claiming him on waivers, and nothing was stopping a team from beating his offer of two 2nds for Bennett, a 3rd for Montour or Levi + late-1st for Reinhart.

Where the sunshine states with no state income tax have advantages is in their ability to attract talent, particularly via UFA and in convincing NTC players to waive. They definitely get a tangible discount in trades in terms of not needing to give up as much assets due to players with NTCs doing everything they can to be traded to these destinations, and obviously UFAs take significant discounts to play there as well.

Being a top tier destination can be a blessing and a curse though, particularly on July 1st when a ton of mistakes get made. The Rangers are the perfect example of this. So many terrible big long-term contracts given out because it's very difficult to pass up making your team better when given the opportunity to do so.

Sometimes the best move to make is doing nothing, and Zito not throwing money away on shortsighted long-term deals on July 1st, despite I'm sure being given plenty of opportunity, is worthy of praise.

 

[RCGP2]

Being the GM of a team like the Panthers is definitely playing on easy mode, but that doesn't negate a lot of the great work Zito has done.

Any team could have added Forsling for almost nothing prior to Zito claiming him on waivers, and nothing was stopping a team from beating his offer of two 2nds for Bennett, a 3rd for Montour or Levi + late-1st for Reinhart.

Where the sunshine states with no state income tax have advantages is in their ability to attract talent, particularly via UFA and in convincing NTC players to waive. They definitely get a tangible discount in trades in terms of not needing to give up as much assets due to players with NTCs doing everything they can to be traded to these destinations, and obviously UFAs take significant discounts to play there as well.

Being a top tier destination can be a blessing and a curse though, particularly on July 1st when a ton of mistakes get made. The Rangers are the perfect example of this. So many terrible big long-term contracts given out because it's very difficult to pass up making your team better when given the opportunity to do so.

Sometimes the best move to make is doing nothing, and Zito not throwing money away on shortsighted long-term deals on July 1st, despite I'm sure being given plenty of opportunity, is worthy of praise.

Easy mode? Top tier destination? Did you start watching hockey in 2021?

 

[pb1300]

Being the GM of a team like the Panthers is definitely playing on easy mode, but that doesn't negate a lot of the great work Zito has done.

Any team could have added Forsling for almost nothing prior to Zito claiming him on waivers, and nothing was stopping a team from beating his offer of two 2nds for Bennett, a 3rd for Montour or Levi + late-1st for Reinhart.

Where the sunshine states with no state income tax have advantages is in their ability to attract talent, particularly via UFA and in convincing NTC players to waive. They definitely get a tangible discount in trades in terms of not needing to give up as much assets due to players with NTCs doing everything they can to be traded to these destinations, and obviously UFAs take significant discounts to play there as well.

Being a top tier destination can be a blessing and a curse though, particularly on July 1st when a ton of mistakes get made. The Rangers are the perfect example of this. So many terrible big long-term contracts given out because it's very difficult to pass up making your team better when given the opportunity to do so.

Sometimes the best move to make is doing nothing, and Zito not throwing money away on shortsighted long-term deals on July 1st, despite I'm sure being given plenty of opportunity, is worthy of praise.

That can be said about the last few seasons, but before that though, the Panthers were a retirement destination who had no serious intention of winning the right way, and building any type of winning culture.

It is well documented as t how ridiculous the team was run in the past, and how players came in who had no reason to win other than the money.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Easy mode? Top tier destination? Did you start watching hockey in 2021?

[mod]

Obviously if the Panthers were still basement dwellers who couldn't draft or make any good decisions they wouldn't be a top tier destination, but they have been a playoff team since before Zito took over, and have obviously been a top tier destination for players around the league since they managed to right the ship.

 

[Sky04]

Brisebois....Nah, Yzerman built that entire foundation and just handed over the keys to the Cup to him. The Cups should have Yzerman's name on them, and I am in no way an Yzerman or Wings fan.

Then why are the Red Wings ass? 0 playoffs in Yzermans tenure, bunch of dumb trades and signings though.

 

[RCGP2]

[mod]

Obviously if the Panthers were still basement dwellers who couldn't draft or make any good decisions they wouldn't be a top tier destination, but they have been a playoff team since before Zito took over, and have obviously been a top tier destination for players around the league since they managed to right the ship.

Yea, since Zito took over.... Which is why he should be ranked as a top GM... If it was "easy" and "a top destination" then Florida wouldn't have been trash for 95% of the 25 years prior.

 

[paragon]

McCrimmon, Nill, Zito, Sweeney, BriseBois

Good list. Nill and Sweeney definitely deserve to be in top 5 even if they haven't won it all. Although I hate pretty much every trade Sweeney has done and his drafting has not been great, especially his famous first draft. But I guess he has a great eye for coaching talent having hired two excellent coaches who ended up winning Jack Adams Trophy. I think most people would agree that Bruins have overachieved with him as a GM, especially last year.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Yea, since Zito took over.... Which is why he should be ranked as a top GM... If it was "easy" and "a top destination" then Florida wouldn't have been trash for 95% of the 25 years prior.

The season before Zito got there they managed to convince a top tier UFA in Bobrovsky to sign, not to mention the best coach on the market in John Quenneville.

The team sucked for a long time, which is why they weren't a top tier destination, although still reasonably attractive, particularly to vets at the end of their careers.

They added a bunch of top tier talent through the draft and established itself as a playoff team with the possibilty of contending in the future. That played the biggest role by far in Florida becoming an attractive destination for talent, which was becoming obvious before Zito ever got there.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Then why are the Red Wings ass? 0 playoffs in Yzermans tenure, bunch of dumb trades and signings though.

Have to agree he has not been so savvy in Detroit, but he was really building from scratch, a huge pile of dung. Was spending a lot of money just to get to the cap floor.

 

[Sky04]

Have to agree he has not been so savvy in Detroit, but he was really building from scratch, a huge pile of dung. Was spending a lot of money just to get to the cap floor.

Yeah because Yzerman didn't inherit Stamkos, MSL, Lecavalier and Hedman from before he got there too right, he built the Lightning from scratch? The logic is flawless, you say he had to build Detroit from nothing but gloss over the fact that he had a #1 defenseman, #1 center, #2 center and top 5 winger in the game when he got to Tampa

 

[Voight]

Good list. Nill and Sweeney definitely deserve to be in top 5 even if they haven't won it all. Although I hate pretty much every trade Sweeney has done and his drafting has not been great, especially his famous first draft. But I guess he has a great eye for coaching talent having hired two excellent coaches who ended up winning Jack Adams Trophy. I think most people would agree that Bruins have overachieved with him as a GM, especially last year.

Yea I put him because the Bruins have been a consistent playoff team despite losing a lot of their core guys. & even though it was five years ago, he has managed a team that's made the finals, plus even if the playoffs were a failure, his team did have the best regular season in NHL history.

Come to think of it, he and the other four guys (plus Armstrong)I listed are the only active GMs to make the finals

 

[Hale The Villain]

Then why are the Red Wings ass? 0 playoffs in Yzermans tenure, bunch of dumb trades and signings though.

I keep having to make this point, but judging a GM on team wins/losses during a tear down rebuild is EXTREMELY dumb.

When Yzerman took over the Red Wings were a former long-time contender that had just missed the playoffs and been on the decline for years.

Many years of poor drafting and developing had caught up to them. The team's young core was comprised of Larkin, Hronek, Athanasiou, Mantha and Bertuzzi

To add insult to injury, Holland had just spent the team's last 5 1st round picks on Zadina, Veleno, Rasmussen, Cholowski and Svechnikov, and their drafting in rounds 2-7 was equally horrible.

I question some of his trades/signings the past couple years, but blaming Yzerman for the Wings not making the playoffs during his tenure is incredible stupid.

Holland left the franchise in a state of disrepair and it would have taken any GM many years to right the ship.

 

[Sky04]

I keep having to make this point, but judging a GM on team wins/losses during a tear down rebuild is EXTREMELY dumb.

When Yzerman took over the Red Wings were a former long-time contender that had just missed the playoffs and been on the decline for years.

Many years of poor drafting and developing had caught up to them. The team's young core was comprised of Larkin, Hronek, Athanasiou, Mantha and Bertuzzi

To add insult to injury, Holland had just spent the team's last 5 1st round picks on Zadina, Veleno, Rasmussen, Cholowski and Svechnikov, and their drafting in rounds 2-7 was equally horrible.

I question some of his trades/signings the past couple years, but blaming Yzerman for the Wings not making the playoffs during his tenure is incredible stupid.

Holland left the franchise in a state of disrepair and it would have taken any GM many years to right the ship.

Yeah if it "any GM" can do it then nothing seperates him from the pack, thanks for proving the point exactly.

 

[Ford Prefect]

For me, the challenge isn't a tear down and building a winner. It's building a winner and keeping them competitive. I'd go Brisebois, Nill, Sweeney and McCrimmon. Yeah, four is good.

 

[Chaos2k7]

The season before Zito got there they managed to convince a top tier UFA in Bobrovsky to sign, not to mention the best coach on the market in John Quenneville.

The team sucked for a long time, which is why they weren't a top tier destination, although still reasonably attractive, particularly to vets at the end of their careers.

They added a bunch of top tier talent through the draft and established itself as a playoff team with the possibilty of contending in the future. That played the biggest role by far in Florida becoming an attractive destination for talent, which was becoming obvious before Zito ever got there.

Too many errors in your revisionist history to correct here.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Too many errors in your revisionist history to correct here.

Oh sure.

Or it could be you can't come up with a good argument why the Panthers signing Bobrovsky and Quenneville, the two top talents available in their respective roles in the 2019 offseason, does not provide evidence of Florida's attractiveness as a free agent destination prior to Zito being hired.

Zito has done a fantastic job and every bit he made the team better made Florida a more attractive place to play, but again I will argue going from being a bottom feeder in the early 2010s to a young up-and-coming playoff team in the late 2010s was much more important development.

 

[The Red Line]

Stan Bowman has three Cups on his resume yet there's people picking GMs who haven't done a thing.

HF gonna HF

I’m assuming this is a joke, but just in case it isn’t….

He inherited a team with multiple lottery picks, and after a brief period of success traded away more talent than any GM in history, swiftly running his team out of even contending for the playoffs, signed some of the worst contracts in the entire league history, was banned from the league for being a horrible human being, and in his first few weeks back on the job has gotten his ass handed to him by multiple other GMs.

 

[Laus723]

Oh sure.

Or it could be you can't come up with a good argument why the Panthers signing Bobrovsky and Quenneville, the two top talents available in their respective roles in the 2019 offseason, does not provide evidence of Florida's attractiveness as a free agent destination prior to Zito being hired.

Zito has done a fantastic job and every bit he made the team better made Florida a more attractive place to play, but again I will argue going from being a bottom feeder in the early 2010s to a young up-and-coming playoff team in the late 2010s was much more important development.

Always love non Panther fans arguing with Panther fans about the team in any capacity. No one else was offering Bob 10 per for 7 years. Tallon also tried to land Panarin but was unable to. Instead, Tallon overpaid Connolly and Stralman rather than spreading out the money more wisely the way has Zito has done.

Q was also paid well (by new ownership that worked to help make this a destination team), but he also knew Tallon from Chicago which helped him come here.

Two examples don’t make an argument. Sure, Tallon aided in large part with a few of his draft picks and trades, I'll always be grateful for Barkov alone, but he also missed on more draft picks and it’s well documented that he didn’t pull the trigger on several trades that would’ve pushed this team ahead. Groundwork was laid, but it wasn’t going to get there under Tallon. Zito cleaned up several contract errors and made multiple skilled trades/signings/pickups to get us to back to back Finals appearances.

Several teams MAY have made those trades, claimed Forsling, signed several guys…but they didn’t. What a terrible argument, I point to Tallon NOT doing things and how it cost us (one trade helped Tampa to their Cup instead).

Zito’s an elite GM and one of the best in the League. End of story.

 

[Pengu]

Zito, Mckrimmon, Sweeney, Nill are the top 4. Brisebois, Allvin fight for 5th
Cheevy isn't pro active enough for me even though I see him as top 10.

Ana - Verbeek hasn't done much of note. Tough situation though
UT - Armstrong same thing
SJ - Grier has done some bad things and some good things but SJ is not a winning team yet
Pitt - Dubas Like Grier is active but mixes the good with the bad, Pitt isn't a playoff team either
Mtl - Hughes has done well so far but mtl is not a winning team nor a playoff team
Tor - Treliving wasn't great in Galgary and hasn't done anything of note in Toronto
LA - Blake has not done to well so far
Calgary - Conroy has done too little. Just sold of a bunch of players
Edm - Bowman fell of a cliff after 2015 in more ways than one
Stl - Armstrong is good but the Blues has been struggling in the past few years
Nsh - Trotz Not convinced yet
Det - Yzerman has made too many poor signings
Car - Tulsky is new on the job
Cbj - Wadell was good in Carolina but he was REALLY poor as Thrashers gm
Ott - Staios hasn't done much yet
Buff - Adams hasn't built a winning team
NJ - Fitz has done ok, but the jury is still out
Phi - Briere has dealt with the mess reasonably well but it's still a mess
Wsh - Maclellan has done ok but some quetionable decisions there
Avs - Macfarland hasn't done too well since he took over
Sea - Francis was ok with the Hurricans and has been ok with Sea but his signings has been a mixed bag
Min - Guerin hasn't built a winner but the cap constraints make it tough
Chi - Davidson has a loooong way to go
NY - Drury has done well, but not great
NYI - Lou does what Lou does which isn't bad also not great

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Yeah because Yzerman didn't inherit Stamkos, MSL, Lecavalier and Hedman from before he got there too right, he built the Lightning from scratch? The logic is flawless, you say he had to build Detroit from nothing but gloss over the fact that he had a #1 defenseman, #1 center, #2 center and top 5 winger in the game when he got to Tampa

Why so bitter? Just saying he had a lot to do with making Tampa a Stanley Cup champion...Most other teams in the NHL have what you mention above but haven't sniffed a Stanley Cup.

 

[Pure Slaughter Value]

I'm sure it's like a broken record but Sweet, Sweet Lou for the win(s).

 

[sensfan4lifee]

Sorry but Hughes belongs nowhere on that list, Allvin should tho.

Drafting and accumulatig picks is easy,every GM does it and it means absolutely nothing until all that work culminates into a winning team.

I mean all those lottery picks and trades of stalled former high picks might look good one day but as of right now every single pick from Slaf to Caufield and everything in between has yet to do anything of significance, Dach has been nothing but glass, Dvorak was a flop and Newhook was meh in his first season.

Personally missing out on Cooley and Matvei was a huge blunder and Reinbacher imo should have been the 3rd dman off the board after Willander and the guy the yotes picked.

Meanwhile in less time Allvin has catapulted Vancouver up the standings, completely rebuilt the culture, went from the team with one of the worse cap structures to arguably one of the teams with the most efficient cap structure in the league. Doing all of this while going from the worst prospect pool to an average one while improving the team and lowering the average age of the club.
Him, Zito and Nill right now are the top 3 imo

Alvin also inherited a very talented core that just needed direction

Petersson, Hughes, Miller and Demko is very easy to build around

I like Alvin a lot and think he's done a masterful job with the Nucks but its not like he inherited a dumpster fire. Also the Lindholm trade just looks bad and I feel like his signings this year maybe kind of off.