It’s the middle of July, and we’re getting dangerously close to that time of year when the NHL essentially shuts down. Not officially, of course, but there’s about a six-week stretch where we don’t get much in the way of big signings or trades. It’s almost like the GMs all go on vacation.
Great, that makes this a perfect time to rank them.
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Specifically, we’re going to rank each of the GM classes of the cap era. That means we’re going back to 2005 and judging each calendar year based on which full-time GMs were hired (with a glove tap to our friends at NHL Trade Tracker).
The ground rules are simple. We’re judging based only on what a GM did with that team, not anywhere else before or after. Interim GMs don’t count. And each hire in a given year gets equal weighting — if a year saw five guys hired and one of them was a modern-day Sam Pollock, that will boost the ranking but only to a point; the other guys matter just as much.
Each class gets ranked based on their impact, their success and their entertainment value, which is based on a strict system of me pulling a number out of the air and running with it. Highest total wins.
We’ve got 19 years to work with, and we’re ranking all of them. Well, almost all of them, because …
Not ranked: Class of 2023
GMs: Barry Trotz (NSH), Brad Treliving (TOR), Craig Conroy (CGY), Danny Briere (PHI), Kyle Dubas (PIT) who says he’s only the interim GM but isn’t fooling anyone
Look, I think I’ve shown over the years that I’m willing to be entirely unreasonable when it comes to a ranking, but even I have my limits. These guys have been on the job for a few weeks, most of them have barely done anything newsworthy yet, and I’m not even sure Conroy knows that free agency has started. I can’t sit here and pretend I can pass judgment on any of them yet. (But check back in August, when my 6,500-word Dubas vs. Treliving scorecard should be ready to go.)
18. Class of 2017
GMs: Rob Blake (LAK), Jason Botterill (BUF), Dale Tallon (FLA)
I like the work Blake has done in L.A., even though he hasn’t won anything yet. The good news is he’s easily the best GM of the class of 2017. The bad news is it would be just about impossible not to be, since Botterill didn’t really work out in Buffalo and Tallon 2.0 in Florida was so busy vanquishing the Computer Boys that he ended up doing more for the Golden Knights than the Panthers.
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Impact: 3/10
Success: 2/10
Entertainment: 2/10
Total: 7/30
Rob Blake. (Rob Koch / NHLI via Getty Images)17. Class of 2022
GMs: Chris MacFarland (COL), Mike Grier (SJS), Pat Verbeek (ANA), Kent Hughes (MTL), Patrik Allvin (VAN)
It’s far too early to rank last year’s class with any degree of fairness, but life’s not fair so here we are. Only one year in, this group isn’t exactly crushing it; aside from MacFarland, who took over a Cup champion, it’s been a whole lot of wheel-spinning for this group. Hughes at least gave us a great draft moment in Montreal, and Grier might be about to drop an Erik Karlsson blockbuster. But for now, it’s been a lot of talk and not much action — which is probably about right when three of the five teams are rebuilding, and one of them probably should be. Let’s call this class a work in progress and slot them in here for now.
Impact: 2/10
Success: 2/10
Entertainment: 4/10
Total: 8/30
16. Class of 2009
GMs: Stan Bowman (CHI), Greg Sherman (COL), Joe Nieuwendyk (DAL), Chuck Fletcher (MIN), Randy Sexton (FLA)
First things first: I cover the NHL for a living and I have zero recollection of Randy Sexton returning to the league to be the Panthers GM for less than a year. I do remember Nieuwendyk’s unsuccessful stint in Dallas, and poor Sherman being GM in title only while Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic did his job for him. Bowman won three Cups in Chicago with Dale Tallon’s roster, but ultimately left in disgrace. And that leaves us with Fletcher, who lasted almost a decade in Minnesota and was responsible for some of the most thrilling moments in franchise history like, uh …
Impact: 3/10
Success: 5/10, basically all from Bowman
Entertainment: 2/10
Total: 10/30
15. Class of 2011
GMs: Kevin Cheveldayoff (WPG)
I’m not sure which is stranger, that 2011 only features one new GM or that that guy is still on the job today. Longevity is tough to manage for an NHL GM, so we have to give Cheveldayoff credit for sticking around. But he’s only won three rounds, and has managed the current version of the team into a tough spot. Far worse, for our purposes: In a league where GMs are famously risk averse when it comes to pulling off deals, Cheveldayoff still managed to become the guy who stood out for never making trades. He’s shaken that reputation in recent years, but we’re grading his entire body of work here.
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Impact: 5/10.
Success: 4/10.
Entertainment: 2/10.
Total: 11/30.
14. Class of 2021
GMs: Kyle Davidson (CHI), Chris Drury (NYR), Ron Hextall (PIT)
Normally you’d say two years is too soon to evaluate a GM, but the Penguins apparently didn’t agree, since they’ve already turfed Hextall after a tumultuous stint. Drury has made some big moves in New York but hasn’t been able to break through yet, while Kyle from Chicago went all in on tanking for Connor Bedard and was rewarded for it.
Impact: 6/10
Success: 3/10, although some of that losing was by design
Entertainment: 4/10
Total: 13/10
13. Class of 2007
GMs: Bryan Murray (OTT), Don Maloney (ARI), Scott Howson (CBJ), Brett Hull and Les Jackson (DAL)
Another eclectic bunch. Maloney lasted almost a decade in Arizona and won GM of the year honors in 2010, while Murray was a classy hand on the wheel in Ottawa even during the worst of the Melnyk nonsense. But Howson is probably best remembered for getting GM of the year votes in a season in which he was fired, while the two-headed Jackson/Hull pairing didn’t work at all in Dallas.
Impact: 7/10
Success: 3/10
Entertainment: 4/10
Total: 14/30
12. Class of 2016
GMs: Tom Rowe (FLA), John Chayka (ARI), Pierre Dorion (OTT), George McPhee (VEG)
One of these GMs is still on the job and one of them was incredibly successful, but it’s not the same guy, which is kind of weird. Dorion is still plugging away in Ottawa, but it’s McPhee’s near-miraculous work with the Golden Knights that stands out. Meanwhile, Chayka was the youngest GM ever but abruptly resigned after a few years, while Rowe lasted just one miserable year in Florida. He did give us the Gerard Gallant taxi firing, though, which is good for a point in the Entertainment column.
Impact: 5/10
Success: 6/10, almost all from McPhee
Entertainment: 4/10
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Total: 15/30
11. Class of 2013
GMs: Brian Burke (CGY), Jim Nill (DAL), Jarmo Kekalainen (CBJ), Craig MacTavish (EDM), Dave Nonis (TOR), Patrick Roy (COL) but only kind of
An interesting thing about NHL history is that lockouts seem to make teams lose their minds when it comes to changing GMs. We certainly got an interesting mix of changes in 2013, including two guys who are still on the job, one of whom has even had some success. That’s outweighed by the others, though, as Burke didn’t do much in Calgary beyond providing soundbites, Dave Nonis did even less in Toronto, MacTavish was gone in two years in Edmonton, and nobody quite knew what the deal was with Roy in Colorado. As an added bonus, the Sabres also had Pat LaFontaine acting as interim GM for a few months before he quit. Good times all around, honestly.
Impact: 4/10, mostly on David Clarkson’s bank account
Success: 3/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Total: 16/30
10. Class of 2010
GMs: Rick Dudley (ATL), Jay Feaster (CGY), Dale Tallon (FLA), Pierre Gauthier (MTL), Doug Armstrong (STL), Steve Yzerman (TBL)
It would be fair to call this a mixed bag. We’ve got two of the best, with Yzerman setting the stage in Tampa and Armstrong still going strong 13 years and one Cup later in St. Louis. We’ve also got a guy who almost hilariously screwed up an offer sheet, a guy who was nicknamed “The Ghost,” and a guy who lasted one year with a team that no longer exists. We’re at least getting the good half of Tallon’s two stints in Florida, though.
Impact: 7/10
Success: 6/10
Entertainment: 3/10, but so much higher if the Avs hadn’t matched
Total: 16/30
Doug Armstrong. (Jeff Curry / USA Today)9. Class of 2008
GMs: Steve Tambellini (EDM), Brian Lawton (TBL), Brian Burke (TOR), Mike Gillis (VAN), Bob Murray (ANA)
Another fun group, with plenty of Canadian content. If you’re not an Oilers fan, you probably don’t remember Tambellini lasting for nearly five years in Edmonton. Gillis was the most successful of the bunch, getting the Canucks agonizingly close to a championship, while Burke’s stint in Toronto certainly ups our entertainment quota. Murray lasted 13 years in Anaheim, and the team was better than you remember for a lot of it. As for Lawton, he’s probably best remembered for the trades he didn’t make.
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Impact: 5/10
Success: 4/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Total: 17/30
8. Class of 2005
GMs: Brian Burke (ANA), Dale Tallon (CHI)
Both of these guys show up multiple times on this list, but as the Class of 2005, they share something in common: a Cup win enjoyed by one GM but mostly built by another. In Burke’s case, he got to win with a Ducks team that had been mostly built by Bryan Murray, while Tallon was the builder in Chicago who had to watch the payoff from the outside (but still got a ring).
Impact: 7/10
Success: 7/10
Entertainment: 4/10
Total: 18/30
7. Class of 2012
GMs: Marc Bergevin (MTL)
The other of our two solo classes, Bergevin lasted almost a decade before getting fired in 2021. He didn’t win a Cup, but he came closer than any Habs GM in a generation. He also wasn’t shy about making big moves, including the biggest offer sheet of the cap era and the P.K. Subban/Shea Weber blockbuster that I ranked as the most important trade of the decade. Even though he didn’t last as long as Cheveldayoff, I’m ranking him significantly higher because he took bigger swings. And also because I am afraid of him.
Impact: 6/10.
Success: 5/10
Entertainment: 7/10
Total: 19/30.
6. Class of 2020
GMs: Bill Zito (FLA), Kevyn Adams (BUF), Bill Armstrong (ARI), Tom Fitzgerald (NJD)
What a difference a few years can make. Of this group, it’s probably fair to say that only Fitzgerald was really seen as an especially strong candidate when he took the job, while Zito and Armstrong were lesser known and Adams was viewed as a guy whose only qualification was that he was willing to work for the Pegulas. Three years later, Armstrong is doing his best in an impossible situation and the other three have been outright success stories. This is a strong class that’s going to look even stronger in another few years, with Zito boosting our entertainment score thanks to last summer’s blockbuster Matthew Tkachuk trade.
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Impact: 7/10
Success: 6/10 and counting
Entertainment: 6/10
Total: 19/30
5. Class of 2015
GMs: Don Sweeney (BOS), Lou Lamoriello (TOR), Peter Chiarelli (EDM), Ray Shero (NJD), Jeff Gorton (NYR)
Fun fact: Three of these five guys are Cup winners, although not with the team that hired them in 2015. Chiarelli is the one who stands out as a failure here; that’s maybe a little unfair, but it’s a rule of thumb in the GM world that you don’t want your trade announcements to become memes. Lamoriello helped get the Leafs back on track, while Shero and Gorton both made smart moves that set the table for the success their teams are having now. Meanwhile, Sweeney won GM of the year in 2019 and was a finalist this spring.
Impact: 8/10
Success: 7/10
Entertainment: 6/10, mostly for Chiarelli but don’t sleep on Gorton and the “horrifying acts of violence” statement that went out without his knowledge
Total: 20/30
4. Class of 2018
GMs: Don Waddell (CAR), Paul Fenton (MIN), Kyle Dubas (TOR), Lou Lamoriello (NYI), Julien BriseBois (TBL), Chuck Fletcher (PHI)
Confession time: When I saw Fletcher’s name, I tried to remember when the Flyers had fired him and settled on it being around 2020. Nope, it was a few weeks ago. There are probably some Flyers fans who would suggest that was wishful thinking. The rest of this group has been mostly successful, with BriseBois getting Yzerman’s Lightning over the finish line for two Cups and Waddell and friends building the Hurricanes into a powerhouse. Dubas won plenty in the regular season, while Lou has had more success with the Islanders than anyone expected. That leaves us with Fenton, whose 14 months in Minnesota were at least very funny.
Impact: 7/10
Success: 6/10
Entertainment: 7/10, because lizards
Total: 20/30
3. Class of 2019
GMs: Ron Francis (SEA), Bill Guerin (MIN), Kelly McCrimmon (VEG), Steve Yzerman (DET), Ken Holland (EDM)
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This is a fascinating group that includes three Hall of Famers, two of whom are in as players. That HHOF exec would be Holland, who these days is probably the most maligned of the group even as his Oilers have had decent success. McCrimmon just won a Cup after years of aggressive moves, Francis got the Kraken into the playoffs in two years, Guerin has the Wild contending and Yzerman is working through a long-term plan in Detroit. Four years later, all five guys are still in place and I don’t think any of them are even on a hot seat.
Impact: 8/10
Success: 6/10
Entertainment: 7/10, most of it for Guerin’s draft floor quotes about Cam Talbot.
Total: 21/30
2. Class of 2006
GMs: Jacques Martin (FLA), Dean Lombardi (LAK), Neil Smith (NYI), Paul Holmgren (PHI), John Davidson (STL), Francois Giguere (COL), Ray Shero (PIT), Peter Chiarelli (BOS), Garth Snow (NYI)
The biggest class of the cap era with nine new hires, and yes, there are two different guys listed for the Islanders — let’s just say the Neil Smith era did not last long. There are a few relatively forgettable stints in here, like Davidson’s and Giguere’s. But we get three different Cup winners in Lombardi, Chiarelli and Shero. And far more importantly, we get a backup goalie with no front-office experience who somehow outlasts the entire class.
Impact: 7/10
Success: 9/10
Entertainment: 7/10
Total: 23/30
1. Class of 2014
GMs: Tim Murray (BUF), Joe Sakic (COL), Jim Benning (VAN), Jim Rutherford (PIT), Brian MacLellan (WSH), Ron Hextall (PHI), Ron Francis (CAR), Brad Treliving (CGY)
What sets this class apart was that seven of eight went on to hold their job for a while, with only Murray being short-lived. Everyone else was still going strong by 2018, when I wrote a piece evaluating them. Not all of that has aged well, which is probably a lesson on counting chickens too early. Years later, we know this group combined for four Cups (and counting, I guess, since MacLellan is still on the job). The other theme here was retired players returning to their former teams; Francis and Hextall were both fine but not fantastic, while Sakic went from being viewed as one of the league’s weakest GMs to maybe its very best by the time he stepped aside. Also, Murray bumps the entertainment score just based on his soundbites.
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Impact: 7/10
Success: 10/10
Entertainment: 7/10, because how can you not love a GM who says stuff like this?
Total: 24/30
(Top photo of Steve Yzerman: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
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