Worst GM of All Time?

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Another thread blaming Dubas for his core not stepping up. I really am enjoying reading the arm chair GM's and there ideas of how replacing Mathews and Marner would have made the Leafs a better team.

In my honest opinion the Leafs giving up on Kadri and subsequently signing Tavares was the biggest mistake.

It's incredibly easy to look back at Mathews and Marner and say, 1) They are overpaid 2) They are not playoff performers.

Based on there production in the regular season they are not overpaid, based on there playoffs well yeah duh that's where all of this is coming from. But this is why it's not them.

Every GM pays there star players to you know be star players. That's not Dubas fault. In what world are we that the Leafs don't have Marner and Mathews and are better for it. What GM isn't frothing at the mouth to sign young 20 year old ppg players.

Sure Maybe he overpaid them by a bit, the rest is revisionist bias. Does he deserve blame for the playoffs failure, yeah obviously he's the GM.

The biggest construction issue is the Tavares signing being a dud. Kadri was on a sweet heart contract, provided grit and blew your load signing pyjamas boy. Too many cooks in the kitchen, a signing that eliminates depth elsewhere.

Sure Matthews and Marner may be overpaid but show me 20 something ppgs across the league who aren't getting paid. The contract straight to ufa and 5 years was a mistake as well.

"Worst gm ever lol whatever"
Chia pet I'm Edmonton maybe Jim Benning recently, there have been worse than those as well.

I tend to agree. If anything, I think Dubas is guilty of letting public sentiment and optics factor into his decisions.

1) Everyone was done with Kadri. Doesn’t matter that he’s a good player, there was pressure to get rid of him.
2) The temptation to sign bedsheet boy was too great. It was a PR coup at the time, it made ‘em look like a wagon, it’s really tough not to make that deal- but in hindsight that was his biggest failing, because JT is just not what was needed.

Can’t blame him for Matthews and Marner shitting the bed, but you can blame him for bringing in the guy who ensured those shits were shat upon leaf logoed bedding*. I dunno what kinda leader JT, but to me he seems uninspired and aging. Bad move, shoulda told the dude to look elsewhere and if it ever came out that he wanted the leafs- too bad, take the bad PR on the chin.

But that’s really far from making him the worst GM. Two mistakes made due to public pressure and a lot of good moves.

Benning takes three guesses to get a push-pull door open.

*bolded because that’s the best sentence I’ll ever write.

 

[ViD]

Why is Dubas on the list ? He’s not a bad GM

 

[JTToilinginToronto]

Why is Dubas on the list ? He’s not a bad GM

Imagine you gave a random hockey fan on the street a GM job in the summer of 2018. And the team they get has Matthews, Rielly, Tavares, Marner and Nylander. They also have an ownership group that allows them to spend to the cap, and the team plays in a city that pretty much every Canadian NHL player wants to play for.

In a five-year period, how likely do you think it is that the random person off the street can get the team to win more than one playoff series?

Pretty likely, right?

 

[Coffee]

Whomst

You

 

[bobholly39]

Dubas has done great moves every season

Its always funny to make fun of Toronto but objectively I think he's extremely capable.

I voted Benning - he always seemed lost.

 

[dirtydanglez]

dubas isn't even the worse gm of modern time. where's john chayka on this list?

 

[amnesiac]

The one who did all this:​

​

Traded Olli Jokinen & Roberto Luongo for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha​

Traded Ziggy Palffy, Marcel Cousineau, Bryan Smolinski, and the 1999 4th-Round Pick (Daniel Johansson) for Mathieu Biron, Josh Green, Olli Jokinen, and the 1999 8th-Overall Pick (Taylor Pyatt)​

Traded Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt & 1st-Round Selection (Jason Spezza) for Alexei Yashin, AND THEN signed Yashin to 10-Year, $90 Million Contract​

Traded Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi & 3rd-Round Selection (Jarko Ruutu) for Trevor Linden​

Traded Bryan Berard & 6th-Round Selection for Felix Potvin & 6th-Round Selection​

Drafted Rick DiPietro with #1 Overall Pick at 2000 NHL Entry Draft (over Heatley and Gaborik)​

Drafted Robert Nilsson 15th Overall in the 2003 NHL Draft (over Getzlaf, Parise, Burns, M.Richards, Perry, Kesler)​

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

Dubas isn't like the rest of these guys. Milbury singlehandedly set an entire franchise back a decade+.

 

[Primary Assist]

Dubas isn't even the worst Leafs GM of the Cap era. Now that isn't so much an endorsement of Dubas as an indictment on the franchise, but he doesn't belong on this list. He built very good regular season teams, and his worst move - signing Tavares - is a move that would have been made by pretty much any hypothetical Leafs GM in the same situation

 

[Davenport]

Dubas' problems with team construction and cap management all flow from his unnecessary "Big Splash." In 2017-18, the Leafs finished with 105 points, and were second in the NHL in goals scored. The Leafs - at the centre of the hockey universe - did not need a "Big Splash," and did not need to add a Top-Six forward. But Dubas wanted a "Big Splash," and signed John Tavares after that season.

Had he instead brought in a legitimate Number One defenseman - who would not have cost $11million per-season - at that time, or later when such a defenseman could have been acquired, the Leafs still would have scored a lot of goals, while being much stronger on the blueline.

 

[dukeofjive]

Réjean aka peanut houle.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Bob Gainey:
-Ribeiro for Nininimaa
-Ryan McDonagh+Chris Higgins for Scott Gomez
-+Many terrible draft picks

 

[Soundgarden]

What about David Polie ?

Lol, what?

 

[amnesiac]

Bob Gainey:
-Ribeiro for Nininimaa
-Ryan McDonagh+Chris Higgins for Scott Gomez
-+Many terrible draft picks

Def not the greatest, but hardly the worst ever. He made 3 of the best moves ever in Habs history:

great moves:
- Drafted Carey Price 5th overall over projected Gilbert Brule
- got Kovalev for Jospeh Balej and a 2nd
- got a 1st (Pacioretty) and Josh Gorges for Rivet and a 5th
- got Huet and Bonk for Garon and a 3rd

His biggest flubs on 1st rounders were drafting Louis Leblanc over Chris Kreider in Montreal to please the hometown crowd and taking David Fischer over Claude Giroux. Other than that they were just crapshoot picks much like any other team who missed around their position.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

This is one of those times where the Leafs get too much attention. And I'm not a Leaf fan. Dubas should not be on this list.
And Chiarelli won a cup. Take him off the list.
I didn't pay enough attention to Benning to make a judgement.
Milbury? He definitely is a top candidate.

 

[rypper]

Benning is this generations Millbury, except it was underneath a salary cap. He should be running away with this poll, he set the team back for years.

 

[Bouboumaster]

1- Millbury
2- Houle
3- Chiarelli

In that order

Dubas is the reactionnary vote but truly he's not even the worse gm in the Leafs History or even in His own era, let alone in the NHL's History
Dubas directly competed with Chiarelli, Benning and Bergevin.....
Dubas did what he could do, his only fault was to be too loyal to His "boys" but he wasn't a truly horrendous GM

 

[BLNY]

Can't have this poll without Garth Snow.

 

[SwedishFire]

In a Canadian market, you have less time and patience. Fans hang you if you dont produce. Thats why Bergevin and benning is running for quick fixes, size and fit for the wrong cost.
Benning did draft Pettersson, or his scout was smart enough to convince him. The rest of the team is maybe poor buildt. He was smarter than chiarelli, who filled his team with high priced contracts, and trading down in value for every trade. And in the end painted himself into a corner, and where waiver watching every junk that come by. Couldnt do any trades.

1- Millbury
2- Houle
3- Chiarelli

In that order

Dubas is the reactionnary vote but truly he's not even the worse gm in the Leafs History or even in His own era, let alone in the NHL's History
Dubas directly competed with Chiarelli, Benning and Bergevin.....
Dubas did what he could Do, Hlhis only fault was to be too loyal to His "boys" but he wasn't a truly horrendous GM

Dubas should had been harder at contract neogations. And if he was the guy signing Tavares contract, he rrally is bad. He could give Tavares 10 million at least. Matthews - ok, hard to complain after such season, but I would give 10,5. Marner, a winger. Yeah right, his dude Nylander got 6. Marner should had got 7-8 millions on a bridge. The Marner contract was a nail in his coffin.

 

[Bouboumaster]

In a Canadian market, you have less time and patience. Fans hang you if you dont produce. Thats why Bergevin and benning is running for quick fixes, size and fit for the wrong cost.
Benning did draft Pettersson, or his scout was smart enough to convince him. The rest of the team is maybe poor buildt. He was smarter than chiarelli, who filled his team with high priced contracts, and trading down in value for every trade. And in the end painted himself into a corner, and where waiver watching every junk that come by. Couldnt do any trades.



Dubas should had been harder at contract neogations. And if he was the guy signing Tavares contract, he rrally is bad. He could give Tavares 10 million at least. Matthews - ok, hard to complain after such season, but I would give 10,5. Marner, a winger. Yeah right, his dude Nylander got 6. Marner should had got 7-8 millions on a bridge. The Marner contract was a nail in his coffin.

Maybe.

But to think that he was worst than the worse of his era is ludicrous

 

[Bouboumaster]

For the kids out here, here's Réjean Houle's "feuille de route"

Rejean Houle's 15 Worst Moves As Montreal Canadiens GM

Réjean Houle was the first overall draft pick in 1969. In a professional career that would span 14 seasons, the right-winger would win five Stanley Cups, all with the Canadiens. Houle was also one of

www.thesportster.com

IMO he's #2 behind Millbury

Millbury won't be beaten anytime soon IMO, because what he did destroyed the Islanders for at least two decades

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Dubas did the least with the most , hence him being here.

I think he's an ok GM but its hard to judge when the entire core was there before he came.
Its not his fault his two stars are cupcakes. Not a fan of dubs but its pretty insulting to be up there with those names aha

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Dubas? Worst of all time?

That’s a joke.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

How are all the worst GMs from the last 30 years? That’s implausible.

 

[Brodeur]

The one who did all this:​

​

Traded Olli Jokinen & Roberto Luongo for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha​

Traded Ziggy Palffy, Marcel Cousineau, Bryan Smolinski, and the 1999 4th-Round Pick (Daniel Johansson) for Mathieu Biron, Josh Green, Olli Jokinen, and the 1999 8th-Overall Pick (Taylor Pyatt)​

Traded Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt & 1st-Round Selection (Jason Spezza) for Alexei Yashin, AND THEN signed Yashin to 10-Year, $90 Million Contract​

Traded Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi & 3rd-Round Selection (Jarko Ruutu) for Trevor Linden​

Traded Bryan Berard & 6th-Round Selection for Felix Potvin & 6th-Round Selection​

Drafted Rick DiPietro with #1 Overall Pick at 2000 NHL Entry Draft (over Heatley and Gaborik)​

Drafted Robert Nilsson 15th Overall in the 2003 NHL Draft (over Getzlaf, Parise, Burns, M.Richards, Perry, Kesler)​

I voted for Milbury as well, although I'd give a little sympathy towards some of the pre-2000 trades due to their ownership issues at the time. It was almost Oakland A's esque at times. Although his original Palffy to LA trade got rejected by the league.

Milbury was sometimes his own worst enemy due to lack of patience. He made a relatively good pick with J.P. Dumont in 1996. But then got in a contract squabble. Just before Dumont's rights expired in 1998, he shipped him to Chicago for Dmitri Nabokov who'd play 30 games as an Islander.

The Luongo pick in 1997 was pretty ballsy at the time, especially since the Islanders had a couple young promising goalies already. But then Luongo struggled as an NHL rookie and they dealt him in 2000 to open up a spot for DiPietro. A funny "what if" is that DiPietro was supposed to be in the 2001 Draft due to NCAA rules at the time. Had to stayed in school perhaps the Islanders would have had Luongo/Gaborik by default? I always felt like the new ownership in 2000 had a hand in the DiPietro pick, like Sanjay Kumar wanted to show off that he was the smartest guy in the room by doing something nobody had done before in taking a goalie #1 overall.