Which GM hire improved their team the most?

[HockeyVirus]

I gotta say Bill Zito. Seems like every move he's made has been the right one. Cups don't lie.

Did I miss something?

 

[StlBigFly]

I’m going to guess the next edition of the penguins will be interesting.

Whether Dubas is able to build an elite team is for history to decide, but what will be impactful is the modernization of an older franchise. I feel the Maple Leafs are elite in a variety of ways and Dubas was able to bring a lot of that experience and processes to an older franchise, modernize Pittsburg’s hockey ops. You’d have to guess this type of situation could have a big positive impact as the team exits its rebuild in some number of years.

 

[qc14]

Brian McLellan took over a Caps team that was in serious danger of flaming out and basically instantly transformed it back into the best team in the league and finally got over the hump in 2018. He then also orchestrated by far the most successful "retool" any NHL team has attempted.

Second highest winning percentage of any GM in NHL history.

 

[Stealth JD]

20-4? Is this some voodoo?

They either played a fifth round or won four best-of-nine series convincingly.

 

[Fallschirmyager]

Brian McLellan took over a Caps team that was in serious danger of flaming out and basically instantly transformed it back into the best team in the league and finally got over the hump in 2018. He then also orchestrated by far the most successful "retool" any NHL team has attempted.

Second highest winning percentage of any GM in NHL history.

Now to the other thread to make sure Geoge McPhee is in the worst GM category.

 

[NyQuil]

Did I miss something?

Yes, Cups in general do not lie, is what he's clearly saying.

 

[Lt Dan]

The opposite of a previous trend. Which one GM did an astronomical amount of good for the team that hired him? No particular time period, you can give one that is either historical or current. Ideally current though.

Dean Lombardi

 

[Lt Dan]

Did I miss something?

He could also be referring to bikini size. They are in S Florida after all

 

[qc14]

Now to the other thread to make sure Geoge McPhee is in the worst GM category.

McPhee was a good GM with some fatal flaws ("I like our D") while he was with the Caps. Not a great GM but also nowhere close to being the worst. MacLellan basically had all of MacPhee's good traits but also none of his bad ones.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

20-4? Is this some voodoo?

The team was so good, they swept a secret 5th round of the playoffs. Or I was trying to use my brain while my children were arguing nearby, which resulted in 2022 and 16-4 getting mashed together. I'm pretty sure at least one of those two things happened.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Chiarelli gets a lot of hate (rightfully so) with his time in Edmonton.

But he came in and set the bar pretty high with Boston

 

[Voight]

I know you said current, but I just want to put this one out there:

Neil Smith took a mediocre New York Rangers team in 1989 and transformed them into a short term powerhouse. It's one of the more proactively successful GM jobs I can think of. The first couple of years were decent, but then between the summer of 1991 and the 1994 deadline, he traded for 13 of 18 skaters on the ice to win the Cup. He also was the first to risk taking a Russian in the first round, and Kovalev played a significant role in the Cup win. The only players on the team left over from his predecessor were Leetch and Richter (not insignificant pieces, of course).

There's no doubt that there's a downside to this. Some of the players he traded went on to have better careers than the Rangers stints for the players they were traded for (Amonte and Weight, in particular). Plus, Smith was convinced by the 94 deadline that he'd be able to pull off similar moves and they mainly backfired. The end of his tenure was NOT great.

I just think it's a really interesting example of a GM vastly improving a team in a short period of time mostly through trades.

It was one of those deal with the devil scenarios where he went all in knowing they'd have a great chance to win the cup but would struggle long term/after the cup win.

 

[Tawnos]

It was one of those deal with the devil scenarios where he went all in knowing they'd have a great chance to win the cup but would struggle long term/after the cup win.

Oh for sure. The problem isn't what he did to win the Cup. It was thinking he could keep making those types of moves in perpetuity and just have them work.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

The New Jersey Devils probably don't exist if they hadn't hired Lou Lamoriello in 1987

 

[Sasha Orlov]

The New Jersey Devils probably don't exist if they hadn't hired Lou Lamoriello in 1987

I think this is the right answer

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Historically, it's Lou Lamiorello and the Devils.

No coincidence that his first season was the first year they made the playoffs. From there, he built a team that, love them or not, was in the top of the NHL for almost 30 years.

when he took over nj years of sucking had given them a pretty good young core. kirk muller was their captain, pat verbeek broke out as a 40 goal scorer that year, john maclean was a year away from himself stringing together a run of 40 goal years, tom kurvers flirted with number one D production, breaking out in the playoffs with 15 pts followed by a 65 pt regular season, sean burke entered the league and immediately looked like an all-star, going 10-1 to push new jersey into the playoffs for the first time ever, then leading them to within a game of the finals. and he had rookie shanahan too.

but what made him the most transformational GM maybe ever wasn’t that success. it was taking that group, a legitimately good core that probably would never win a cup, and turning it almost completely over. muller became stephane richer, who led the 1995 cup team in scoring, both regular season and playoffs. lemieux won the conn smythe. kurvers became niedermayer, burke became holik, shanahan became stevens. add brodeur and those are your cornerstones.

 

[Matty Sundin]

Florida doesn’t have a cup without Bill Zito and anyone else could have ruined them and they’d be in rebuilding mode now.

 

[DrunkTurtle]

20-4? Is this some voodoo?

16-4 with bad goaltending.

Damn that Avs team was a powerhouse. They barely got outplayed in any game during the playoffs.

 

[johnnybbadd]

• The correct answer is the capfriendly site. Washington buys their vast info and in one offseason they look like cup contenders. Not a coincidence at all.