NHL: Ranking Each Team’s General Manager

To be fair to George McPhee, fans won’t be able to judge how he did until a few years from now. Grading him was extremely difficult because as a GM for an expansion team, he needs to be graded on a completely different scale than anyone else. Consider this more of an “incomplete” grade than a condemning of the job he’s done so far.

That said, McPhee had the chance to build a competitive team at the NHL expansion draft. And judging by his team’s record, he did. Although McPhee did get future assets for not putting together the best team he could, only time will tell if he made the right decisions.

Of all the new general managers, it’s perhaps hardest to judge Rob Blake of the Los Angeles Kings. This is because outside of a Tyler Toffoli extension, signing Mike Cammalleri and signing Darcy Keumper, he hasn’t done anything. But from the very limited sample size, Blake has been noticeably better at getting value from his contracts than Dean Lombardi. Of course, that’s like saying you’re a better analyst than Mike Milbury. But still, it’s something Kings fans can hang their hats on.

Jason Botterill perhaps came into the toughest situation of all the rookie general managers. Though he’s only been in charge for a little over a month, his work so far should be applauded. Botterill has improved the Buffalo Sabres blue line while not overpaying for anyone. The Marco Scandella trade was a thing of beauty.

Not only did he get a quality defenseman, he also got Jason Pominville, who, as Buffalo fans will tell you, can still carry a team while he’s hot. And all he gave up was Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno.

So far, John Chayka’s tenure as the Arizona Coyotes general manager has been a roller coaster ride. It’s had its ups and downs. Most of last season was part of the “downs” category, though Chayka should take a bow for the Martin Hanzal trade. So far, this offseason looks to be much better.

Credit him for taking advantage of his cap space to acquire Niklas Hjalmarsson from the Chicago Blackhawks, Derek Stepan from the New York Rangers and Antti Raanta from the Rangers. Moving on from Shane Doan was never going to be easy, and perhaps Chayka could have handled it better, but now’s the time to do it. And to be fair, there might not have been a “right” way to get rid of him.

Pierre Dorion’s first season as the Ottawa Senators’ general manager couldn’t have gone much better. He took a bold risk in hiring Guy Boucher and boy did it pay off. The Derick Brassard for Mika Zibanejad trade has been pretty much equal thus far. Ottawa made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals, nearly upsetting the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

But let’s pump the brakes a little bit. Dorion did do some bad things. Giving up a top prospect for Alexandre Burrows (and proceeding to extend him) wasn’t a smart move. Dorion might have overpaid Mike Condon, though that’s something only time will tell. He has yet to improve the Senators this offseason.