Here's an interesting take. The ten worst GMs in NHL history. Mike Smith doesn't make the list. I copied and pasted the five worst.
bleacherreport.com/articles/756830-george-mcphee-and-the-10-worst-gms-in-nhl-history/page/1Five172–258–62
That's the Blue Jackets' record with Don MacLean assuming general manager duties.
The Blue Jackets have never been relevant in the NHL. They've made the playoffs only once in their history and that was a quick exit.
MacLean was never able to draft well and build a solid team despite having great draft picks every year. He never had a first-round pick lower than No. 8. Other than Rick Nash, which was a no brainer since he was No. 1 overall, MacLean's picks have all pretty much been busts.
With unsuccessful or marginal picks like Rostislav Klesla, Nikolai Zherdev, Alex Picard, and Gilbert Brule, it's no wonder that the Jackets are still in the bottom of the barrel.
FourDon Waddell was the only general manager the Thrashers organization knew during their brief stay in Atlanta before moving to Winnipeg.
In a little over a decade, Waddell was able to lead the Thrashers to the playoffs once. In that playoff appearance, they were quickly swept.
Waddell drafted Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley but was never able to surround them with other solid players to build a winning team. Atlanta's defense and goaltending was always susceptible, and for many years, they were the laughingstock of the NHL.
In recent years, he did a few things right like bringing Dustin Byfuglien to the team and drafting Evander Kane.
With so many high draft picks throughout the Thrashers history, one would expect that eventually the team would have a strong central core of players to build around. This is how the Penguins and Blackhawks have rebuilt. Unfortunately for Thrashers fans, this never materialized, and they lost their team.
ThreeWhat Bob Pulford did to the Blackhawks is a perfect example of self-destruction.
After the Blackhawks lost in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1992, Pulford took over the team. Slowly they started eroding and becoming less significant in the NHL.
By the time Pulford left, the Blackhawks were done. For the first time in 28 years they failed to make the playoffs in 1998. Once a proud franchise, the Blackhawks were now in the doldrums, and they would stay there until the arrivals of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews changed the team's fortunes. They only made the playoffs once until 2009 and that playoff appearance in 2002 was a brief one, as they were disposed of in the first round.
Like New York, Chicago is a city with relatively unlimited resources. It's inexcusable to not be competitive in a non-salary cap league when the team can pretty much spend however much they want to spend.
Pulford was eventually let go in 1997. However, he had two more stints with the Blackhawks later on.
After the lockout, he was gone for good, and the Blackhawks finally ended their Stanley Cup drought in 2010.
TwoGlen Sather reminds New York fans of the really late George Steinbrenner era in the mid 2000s. This was the era when the Yankees would overpay for mediocrity.
Sather would do the same in the pre-lockout era. He brought in an aging Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, and Bobby Holik. In the post-lockout era, he overpaid for Chris Drury then ended up buying out his contract. Only time will tell if the Brad Richards signing will be another bust for Sather.
The main reason why Sather is on this list, despite his recent successes, is because in the free spending days before the salary cap, the Rangers were one of the worst teams in the NHL. How can a team in New York be consistently bad when they pretty much don't have a spending limit?
New York sports teams pretty much have unlimited resources because of the city they play in. The Yankees, Jets, Giants, Mets, and Knicks are all like that.
It's inexcusable to be unable to get the best players on your team when you can pretty much sign all the big names.
Now with the salary cap, Sather has been forced to make some solid draft picks, which he has. However, his signings—even to this day—have raised eyebrows.
OneMike Milbury
What do Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, Bryan McCabe, Roberto Luongo, Tommy Salo, Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Tim Connolly, and Raffi Torres have in common?
They were all members of the New York Islanders at one point and traded away by general manager Mike Milbury.
Milbury is probably the main reason why the Islanders are in the state they are in today. We've heard relocation rumors about them in the last few years, and they constantly finish in the bottom of the standings.
Most of the aforementioned players have gone off to have great careers. Luongo and Chara are both world class players. Roberto Luongo was traded with Olli Jokinen to Florida for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha, neither of which ever turned out to be impact players.
Zdeno Chara and Jason Spezza were traded for Alexei Yashin during the 2001 NHL Draft. Yashin, who was a star player at the time, quickly declined and now plays in the KHL. Chara, on the other hand, is a Stanley Cup champion and one of the best defenseman in the game today. Spezza is a great forward having a productive career in Ottawa.
Another lopsided Milbury deal was when he traded Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi, and a draft pick for Trevor Linden. McCabe and Bertuzzi would each become solid players in the NHL. Then, they ended up trading Linden away the year after for a draft pick.
Some of these deals may have been done for financial reasons. But there is no doubt that by having Luongo and Chara throughout the early 2000s, the Islanders would have been able to put out winning teams on the ice, and they wouldn't be in the mess they are in today.
For this, Milbury gets the honor of worst general manager in NHL history.
