Top 5 best GMs currently

[dalewood12]

I think Jim Nill is #1, assuming he wins a cup in the three five years with a pretty big Cup window ahead of him.

 

[joestevens29]

Shit teams that are collecting draft picks and prospects don’t count

 

[Hale The Villain]

Shit teams that are collecting draft picks and prospects don’t count

Yeah because who cares whether a GM is good or bad at their job of rebuilding a team.

You'd think an Oilers fan would be aware of the damage a bad GM like Tambellini/McTavish can do to a franchise during a rebuild.

 

[joestevens29]

Yeah because who cares whether a GM is good or bad at their job of rebuilding a team.

You'd think an Oilers fan would be aware of the damage a bad GM like Tambellini/McTavish can do to a franchise during a rebuild.

Getting prospects and picks means nothing boy.

Results do

 

[Hale The Villain]

Getting prospects and picks means nothing boy.

Results do

A GM doing a good job adding prospects and picks during a rebuild is getting results.

Do you view any trade that makes a team better in the future instead of the present a bad trade?

I can't understand how anyone could be that dense.

 

[joestevens29]

A GM doing a good job adding prospects and picks during a rebuild is getting results.

Do you view any trade that makes a team better in the future instead of the present a bad trade?

I can't understand how anyone could be that dense.

You don’t get to be a top 5 gm until there is results that simple kid

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Please restrain from including Kyle Dubas on your list. He’s really a POHO.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Which 5 GMs are the best IYO?

1-31: Not Kent Hughes
32: Kent Hughes

 

[Bouboumaster]

1-31: Not Kent Hughes
32: Kent Hughes

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

How the heck are people suggesting GMs with short track record in the rebuilding phase (the easiest part) over GMs who’s consistently been getting results for their team?

My picks would be Zito, Nill, Sweeney, McCrimmon, and Cheveldayoff.

 

[Al Lagoon]

Sorry, not gonna read 8 pages of this being lazy.

Most Wild fans would disagree, some strongly, but I think Guerin has made some moves that I think will pay off big starting season after next.

•He cut loose the anchor of Parise Suter. In fact he got rid of all the entitled vets who felt they should be running the team. Yeah MK. The Wild have paid the price but remained strangely competitive.

•His group has drafted pretty damn well, a little luck here and there, but they will have some very good prospects ready to step in after the cap penalty expires.

•Folks in the Wild hockey world complain a ton about BG's tendency to had out NMC's like halloween candy. Hey, I agree some have been a bit hit and miss, but what better way to attract future free-agents than show the franchise values those who sign here?

Character: wildly subjective term, but the Wild have a solid group looking forward. Their vets on fmcs are solid citizens, Foligno, Gaudreau, Zucc, Middleton,, etc. He has built a culture I quite like, team oriented, hard working, moving forward.I feel like the good prospects they have coming in will have some model behavior to emulate.

I especially like the way he took control of the Wild's situation with Parise and Suter. Steep price, but it gave him control of the situation moving forward. 2015-16 will be very interesting.

Now just extend Kaprizov dammit

 

[Sacha BOXviert]

I'll definitely come across as a homer here, but in no particular order:

Zito, Hughes, Grier, D. Armstrong, Nill.

Trotz could be there too. Possibly B. Armstrong soon. I feel like I'm forgetting someone major too.

Holy shittt. Zito in the same tier as Hughes-Grier

 

[thusk]

A GM doing a good job adding prospects and picks during a rebuild is getting results.

Do you view any trade that makes a team better in the future instead of the present a bad trade?

I can't understand how anyone could be that dense.

coyotes addind prospect and pick for years without any result on the ice, do that make his gm a good one and a top 5.

I know it's something habs fan will dislike but everybody are able to sell their player to add pick and prospect, trade some of those picj to get young player like Dach/Newhook without any need to get kind of result.

Since hugues had been hire
2022 : worst team
2023 : 5th worst team
2024 : 5th worst team

What making you a good Gm at the end is result and nothing else

 

[pb1300]

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.

Why are you arguing over Panthers fans who have lived the debacle?

Bob was offered the most money by any team in the league, and aside from Q and Tallon being friends from Chicago, Q also received over $5 million per, making him one of the top paid coaches in the league. While the Panthers were an upcoming destination to play, the difference happened once Zito came in and established what he wanted to the organization to be like.

 

[ScottyMascotty]

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

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.

Some people still don't understand in how big hole Panthers and Zito has found themselves in 2020. The franchise had 3 cornerstones in Barkov, Huberdeau, Ekblad, all in their primes, and with Q on the bench (partially because Tallon and Q knew each other in Chicago and Q signed huge 5-year deal for a coach). That was all their assets. The other pieces were either not worthy the price or couldn't move the needle. A team wasting prime years of the core, struggling to find their identity. Zito inherited quite a few Tallon-era anchors created by lack of stable vision on roster building, outdated understanding of how hockey in cap era works, scouting mistakes, or simply lack of patience/desperation. Here is breakdown of that situation in 2020/2021 season:

- Bobrovsky, poor first year in Florida, 6 more years of 10M$/y contract, was considered the worst contract in the league, untradeable

- Yandle, 6,35*3 years, was on crushing decline, barely could defend or play physical in 2020-2021 season. Q was forced to play him in very sheltered role until he was bought out because he didn't want to waive his NMC. In his last NHL season with Flyers, he was the worst defenseman in the league or something close.

- Stralman, 5,5*2 years, unfortunately just couldn't live up to expectations because his body was too broken by past injuries.

- Matheson, 4,875*6 years, talented D-man selected in first round, has all the tools, but something wasn't working for him. His last two seasons in Florida were marked by constant turnovers to the point that he was healthy scratched in playoff bubble and deployed as a winger in a few games. He became a meme for the fanbase for all the wrong reasons. There was once a joke about "Matheson hat-trick" which means D-man losing his position leading to a goal against + taking a bad penalty leading to a goal against + getting beat one-on-one leading to a goal against. That's how ridiculously bad the situation was.

- Connolly, 3,5*3 years, started his first season in Florida on fire, then faded away, was invisible in playoff bubble, became barely playable in his second season there. Reasons unknown (lack of motivation? mental problems?)

That's roughly 30M$+ cap tied in players contributing too little on a multi-year deals. The team needed 2C (after Trocheck trade), 3C, at least couple of top-6 wingers, and a complete rewamp on defence. The franchise hasn't won the playoff series for 24 years since 1996, the fanbase became impatient. Of course, there were a lot of interesting prospects at that time, the issue however was that Panthers were constantly failing in drafting and/or developing their young players. Borgstrom, Heponiemi, Denisenko all were very promising at some point, but eventually busted. Tippett became a solid player, but not in Florida. With every days it was more clear that Panthers can't overcome their issues by internal replacements, however, the new rebuild and tanking wasn't the option as the remnants of fan support possibly wouldn't survive it. Instead, they needed something fresh, and it was not the overpaying high-pedigree veteran UFAs. A tricky solutions by aggressive and open-minded GM willing to take calculated risks and exploiting market and other GMs inefficiencies. This was the Zito plan, combining scouting observations and analytical insights with communication with coaching staff to ensure that the players fit the system to outperform their expectations and further developing. A lot of these players were ultimate buy-low options, basically custoffs who went out of favor with other teams for some reasons. The moment they came to Florida, it instantly started to look like Zito fooled everyone.

I wish you've been there to properly watch that turnaround yourself. From that first excitement that Verhaeghe is instantly playing like a first line forward there despite being occassionally healthy scratched in Tampa (and not leaving in expansion draft this time!) to healing one fanbase's generational trauma after another in playoffs. From cautious optimism about Forsling playing as what Matheson should've become there to him solidifying as a #1D on ridiculously good contract. From stopgapping 2C spot by Wennberg to finding long-term solution in Sam Bennett. From Montour looking immediately not trash analytically since his first minutes there to eventually pricing himself out of Florida. From wondering how much Reinhart would contrubute there after experiencing constant losing in Buffalo to him scoring that golden goal. From utilising speed of Duclair to finding more well-rounded player in Rodrigues, who fits more for Maurice system. From trading franchise cornerstone in Huberdeau and #2D Weegar for Tkachuk and being told by everyone that this was a disastrous trade to Chucky putting the finishing touch to team identity with his skills, effort, leadership, and locker room presence. From Maurice hire being considered the worst ever to best ever. There are so many little stories behind Panthers franchise going from "Coyotes tier" to "golden standard for roster buliding and cap management". I'm still in the process of realizing that it wasn't a fantasy, because you more likely find these tropes in movies or fairy tales. The one thing I'm convinced: that turnaround deserves to be well-documented. There are so many lessons that can possibly be taught from this, not only in the topic of hockey or team management.

 

[MM917]

How is Hughes name even brought up, he is definitely in the conversation for bottom 5 if not bottom, nowhere close to the top 5.

 

[Stealth JD]

I think Jim Nill is #1, assuming he wins a cup in the three five years with a pretty big Cup window ahead of him.

The Benn and Seguin deals look bad. The offer to Klingberg was a disaster that was fortunately avoided. If not for the scouting department making a historically amazing haul in 2017 he could very well have already been fired. He’s kept his team competitive for the past 5 years, but his club has zero Cup wins and has won a total of nine playoff rounds in Nill’s 11 seasons in charge; missing four time all together.

Good resume. Tops in the NHL? No way.

 

[jackp0t]

Sweeney is not top 5. He got the job in 2015 which already had Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Chara, Krejci, Rask, Krug and so on.

Marchand was a 42 pts guy and a couple years later he was putting 100. Pastrnak was a rookie that year. The team future success was mostly organic growth. And drafting back to back Zboril, DeBruk, Senyshyn in 2015 is horrible when the next 3 were Barzal, Connor and Chabot.

Frederic, Vaakanainen, Beecher are not great picks either.

MacAvoy and the goalies were good moves for sure, but the Bruins core was 90% there when he toke the job.

 

[Trashpass]

Sweeney is not top 5. He got the job in 2015 which already had Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Chara, Krejci, Rask, Krug and so on.

Marchand was a 42 pts guy and a couple years later he was putting 100. Pastrnak was a rookie that year. The team future success was mostly organic growth. And drafting back to back Zboril, DeBruk, Senyshyn in 2015 is horrible when the next 3 were Barzal, Connor and Chabot.

Frederic, Vaakanainen, Beecher are not great picks either.

MacAvoy and the goalies were good moves for sure, but the Bruins core was 90% there when he toke the job.

Like he was the only one to walk into a team with good players already there they're mostly all gone now yet they are still contenders. People have been writing them off for years and it hasn't happened.

Even their down years during his tenure were still 90+ points, they have never tanked a season to have the benefit of having high draft picks. The Bruins are just the model of consistency.

Think people need to let go of 2015. Good lord it's almost 10 years ago. Sweeney himself said he didn't have much time to prep for that draft so he mostly went off of what his scouts were telling him. He still came out of that draft with a top 6 forward, a top 4 & top 6 Dman. The draft could of been much better for sure but not like they came away with nothing.

Zboril was picked where he was supposed to be, there was only one real big reach of the 3

 

[FlameChampion]

Hughes (probably the one who impresses me the most on a trading level, he has to eventually build something though)
Chevaldayoff (amazes me how he gets the Jets out of binds, I think he has one of the toughest jobs
Nill (I think hes just overall really solid)
Zito (I think its easier to GM on a beach city with tax relief though)
Tulsky (I am assuming hes the brains behind Waddell)
McCrimmon (I don’t like him but I do respect his ruthlessness, but once again easier to GM in a destination city with tax breaks)

 

[Idiot Stick]

whatever cities have the top 5 highest tax rate, thats where youll find your top 5 GMs. Actually takes brains and skills over there cause taxes and stuff [COPIUM LEVELS AT RECORD HIGH]

 

[Laus723]

Hughes (probably the one who impresses me the most on a trading level, he has to eventually build something though)
Chevaldayoff (amazes me how he gets the Jets out of binds, I think he has one of the toughest jobs
Nill (I think hes just overall really solid)
Zito (I think its easier to GM on a beach city with tax relief though)
Tulsky (I am assuming hes the brains behind Waddell)
McCrimmon (I don’t like him but I do respect his ruthlessness, but once again easier to GM in a destination city with tax breaks)

Can you explain why you have a “though” to Zito when the Panthers were an actual joke franchise through most of their existence and still seemed to have a ways to go before he got here? Beach city tax relief did nothing for the Panthers for 25+ years. I don’t get this mindset.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

So many variables at play when ranking GMs. The only two I would say are definitely top 5 are Nill and Zito.

 

[MartyOwns]

I especially like the way he took control of the Wild's situation with Parise and Suter. Steep price, but it gave him control of the situation moving forward. 2015-16 will be very interesting.

huge if true

 

[Haatley]

Getting prospects and picks means nothing boy.

Results do

Where would the Oilers be without their lottery picks?