1) GM's who have drafted four or more times with their current team.
2) GM's who have drafted between two and three times with their current team.
3) GM's who have drafted one time or less with their current team and thus do not qualify to be ranked.
GM's of Four or More Years
New Jersey Devils
Reasoning: I don't even think this needs to be explained but he's drafted numerous elite players at every position (Niedermayer, Parise, Brodeur, to name a few), he's drafted more 1000 game players then any other current GM, more players who have played 200+ NHL games then any current GM and he's conducted more drafts then any current GM. New Jersey has won three Cups under Lamoriello and been to two other Finals. In other words, once every five years. And that's largely a by-product of the draft. Yeah, he's great.
2) Darcy Regier
Buffalo Sabres
Reasoning: According to my numbers, only New Jersey and LA have drafted more players per draft. Well, New Jersey is ahead of them and well LA has done well at the draft, they've done it in less then half the time that Regier has. Now, there are teams ranked below Buffalo who have won Cups through the draft and well Buffalo didn't, I'd like to think they would have had their organization had some money or they not gotten so injured during their two deep playoff runs right after the lockout lifted. Regier has just consistently found NHLers and some damn good ones at that (Miller, Campbell, Vanek, etc.)
3) Ken Holland
Detroit Red Wings
Reasoning: Detroit doesn't have the greatest draft "numbers" (only 1.3 NHLers per draft/20% of their picks), but here's the caveat: they've never drafted in the top 15 under Holland. Ever. In fact, only once have they drafted inside the top 20 in the first round and it was the 19th overall pick used to take Jakub Kindl. Even with that, here they are loaded with stars such as Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Kronwall. Have they gotten lucky? Absolutely. But you have to be lucky to be good.
4) Jim Rutherford
Carolina Hurricanes
Reasoning: All Rutherford has drafted is two franchise goalies (Giguere, Ward), a franchise center, a 40 goal winger, a 30 goal winger, a top pairing defenceman (with a few other studs still in their pipeline) along with a potentially elite shutdown center. And he's done it in a small market, on a budget, and even with that he has been able to ice a largely competitive team plus he won a Cup in large part because of the Staal and Ward selections.
5) Dean Lombardi
Los Angeles Kings
Reasoning: Pretty easy to say anything about the Kings right now because they just won the Cup. A large reason they won it all this year is because of the draft. Beyond Drew Doughty, they were able to find contributors such as Voynov, Martinez, King, Nolan and so on. The selections and development of Schenn and Simmonds allowed them to bring in Mike Richards. They also have a top goalie waiting in the wings just waiting for his opportunity. There are a lot of reasons LA won the Cup, but the draft is one of the big ones. That deserves to be recognized here.
6) Glen Sather
New York Rangers
Reasoning: Sather has overseen the drafting of a franchise goalie, the Rangers current captain, two of their top four defencemen (and the signing of one undrafted one), as well as a whole host of other key contributors such as Brandon Dubinsky, Derek Stepan, Fedor Tyutin and more. There was a time when the Rangers simply threw money at players, but Sather turned over a new leaf and has slowly been implementing his young talent into the roster lately. It's already paying off, and this is only the beginning.
7) David Poile
Nashville Predators
Reasoning: Poile is largely in the same boat as Regier in terms of a small market GM who has done well due to the draft. There's a few reasons he isn't as high though. Well Poile has selected some elite defencemen and an elite goalie, he hasn't drafted any high end forwards. Yes, he's picked some solid players up front (Erat, Legwand, etc.) but nothing high end. On top of that, Nashville has never passed the second round. They've been consistently good, but never great. At the end of the day you work in the NHL to win the Stanley Cup and they've barely gotten half way there.
8) Doug Wilson
San Jose Sharks
Reasoning: Doug Wilson has drafted some very good players (Couture, Vlasic, Pavelski, Carle, etc.), but who has San Jose's core been over the years? Thornton, Marleau, Boyle, Nabokov and Heatley. Obviously, Wilson's drafted none of those guys. You may view Wilson's drafted studs as better then some of the teams ranked above him, but the teams above the Sharks here all drafted their cores. Wilson has simply supplemented his with really good players. There's a huge difference and that's why he's ranked eighth.
9) George McPhee
Washington Capitals
Reasoning: McPhee has some of the lower "draft numbers" according to my work. Only 17% of his picks have made the grade and each draft turns out 1.3 NHL players on average. Yes he's drafted some studs in Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green and Carlson that would make any GM envious. But after that, there's a lot left to be desired. As I've already said, there's many reasons why the Caps have yet to go to the promise land, but one of them is an inability to draft character players, "glue guys," to fill out the bottom lines. If the Caps ever do go to the Cup under McPhee, he'll shoot way up these rankings.
10) Garth Snow
New York Islanders
Reasoning: In a few years I think there's a good chance Snow is ranked way higher, provided he's still GM of the Islanders. He's drafted so many promising players that have a good chance of becoming NHLers and he's already hit on a few prospects too. The reason Snow is still ranked so low is because he's always drafting high (making it easier to bring in those guys), because he rushes prospects and because he doesn't have the proven results yet. In time, all that could change.
11) Bryan Murray
Ottawa Senators
Reasoning: Murray is another GM who is inevitably going to move up this list, but for now the results just aren't there. Yes guys like Zibanejad, Puempel, Noesen and the like all look promising, but I need to see some results first. Karlsson is the first domino and soon others will follow, but I'm not going to rank Murray higher because of all that potential over proven results and cores.
12) Paul Holmgren
Philadelphia Flyers
Reasoning: Holmgren falls in the same boat as Doug Wilson in terms of being a GM whose drafted some good players, but his core is largely made up of pieces acquired either elsewhere or not by him. Look, I get it, the Flyers are in "win now" mode and are always trying to win the Cup. That doesn't always lend favourably to judging a GM's draft record. I'm not saying Holmgren is a bad GM when it comes to drafting, I'm saying he's building his team mainly through other ways.
13) Don Maloney
Phoenix Coyotes
Reasoning: Maloney should be commended for the job he has done with Phoenix's NHL roster, and in a few years when guys like Gormley, Boedker and Murphy start emerging he should really be commended, but right now, it's just not there. He started off by rushing prospects and that has backfired terribly. Ekman-Larsson is clearly a stud, but one guy doesn't get you much higher than this.
14) Peter Chiarelli
Boston Bruins
Reasoning: When you think of Boston's Cup win, a few players to come mind immediately: Chara, Thomas, Bergeron, Krejci and Lucic. Chiarelli drafted one of those guys. He also picked Marchand and Kessel and combined all three of those guys are great. After those three though? There really isn't much to write home about other than Seguin of course (I applaud the trade, but the pick itself was a no-brainer). Boston has some core players getting older so eventually Chiarelli's guys will have to come into the lineup, maybe then we can move him up this list. Heck, Dougie Hamilton alone could move him up this list substantially by this time next year.
15) Mike Gillis
Vancouver Canucks
Reasoning: Gillis has drafted one player of consequence so far and that's Cody Hodgson. Needless to say, they had problems with Hodgson for quite awhile so well I do applaud the pick, I don't applaud how they developed him. After Hodgson though, there really isn't anything to talk about in terms of NHL level impact and Gillis' prospects. The reason he's not lower is because Vancouver has a tough lineup to crack and there is some potential knocking on the door here.
16) Ray Shero
Pittsburgh Penguins
Reasoning: When it comes to NHL production, in six years Shero has basically drafted one player: Jordan Staal. And that was second overall. For a team that's loaded with talent and thus big contract players, you would think it would be easy for young players to crack the lineup because they are on cheap deals. But it hasn't been so, in large part because Shero hasn't really drafted anyone that could. Now, does he need to draft immediate help? No, they have Crosby and Malkin. But, when it comes to a draft ranking that's really irrelevant.
17) Scott Howson
Columbus Blue Jackets
Reasoning: Not much needs to be said here. Howson has drafted relatively high in his time in Columbus and has really only drafted one impact player in Voracek. He's rushed Johanson and he probably rushed Filatov too. Simply put, he's had every reason and opportunity to draft good players (and some of the guys do look promising), but there's been no NHL production for us to say he's done a good enough job to not be ranked last, all things considered.
GM's for Two or Three Drafts
Colorado Avalanche
Reasoning: They are the only team to draft three legitimate NHL players inside of the last three years (Duchene, O'Reilly, Landeskog). There is also a ton of potential in their system and two defencemen who are just knocking on the door of the NHL and could possibly both be full-timers next year. There's just great immediate and long-term return here.
2) Bob Murray
Anaheim Ducks
Reasoning: Quietly Murray has stocked the system with high picks and high potential. He's created a deep and diverse system. He has drafted talented defencemen, talented forwards of all positions and a high-end goalie prospect. He also has some early return in Cam Fowler and Devante Smith-Pelley, neither of which were drafted particularly high.
3) Chuck Fletcher
Minnesota Wild
Reasoning: Minnesota hasn't drafted in the top five under Fletcher, but you wouldn't know it when you look at some of the prospects that he's assembled. In only three years he has completely revamped a system that was once lackluster and morbid to one that is oozing potential. Granlund is going to make him look like a genius next year too.
4) Dale Tallon
Florida Panthers
Reasoning: Tallon has done what so many of the other good GM's do early on: He's stockpiled draft picks, talent and diversity. Well Tallon has benefited from drafting early in the draft, he has also made some solid selections later on in the draft such as Howden, Bjugstad, Trocheck, Grimaldi and so on. Part of being at the draft is being able to accumulate picks and use them wisely, and Tallon does that well.
5) Steve Tambellini
Edmonton Oilers
Reasoning: Tambellini has obviously benefited from drafting first overall, but he has also added some solid pieces beyond those extremely high picks. It's hard to judge and rank a guy in Tambellini's spot because he has had such high picks every year and should be doing well at the draft considering how bad his team is, but, he's been adding to his core all over the draft, not just in the first round, so he deserves some form of credit.
6) Stan Bowman
Chicago Blackhawks
Reasoning: In two drafts Bowman has brought in a lot. He was smart to accumulate picks and prospects when the salary cap forced him to trade off Cup winning players from the team and that's resulted in a lot of potential being back in Chicago. Guys like Hayes, Saad, McNeill, Clendening and Flick are just a few guys he's picked in a short time that have NHL potential. Diversity, potential, quantity and quality get you ranked high on this side of the list and Bowman has that here.
7) Brian Burke
Toronto Maple Leafs
Reasoning: Burke hasn't drafted high on potential, but he has drafted quite a few players that will become NHLers. Thus, he ranks somewhere between the teams who have drafted really high upside players, and teams who have drafted very few guys (in my opinion) that will become NHLers. The Leafs haven't been special when it comes to drafting under Burke, but they've been solid, productive and work-man like.
8) Doug Armstrong
St. Louis Blues
Reasoning: Armstrong will go up this ranking. Even with using only the last two drafts, he's still stockpiled the cupboard with guys like Rattie, Tarasenko, Schwartz et al. This spot in the rankings isn't intended to be a knock against Armstrong at all, it's just a testament to the teams in front of him. When some of the guys he's drafted begin producing at the pro level, then he'll move up the order.
9) Steve Yzerman
Tampa Bay Lightning
Reasoning: Yzerman hasn't been bad at drafting with the Lightning per say (it's too early for us to make that conclusion anyways), but he's traded away quite a few picks in order to go for it and hasn't really replenished the system yet. Connolly was an interesting pick but I need more time to make a judgement there. Namestnikov also has potential, but he's also a boom or bust type. Time will tell here.
10) Joe Nieuwendyk
Dallas Stars
Reasoning: When you fire your scouting staff on the spot after seeing your last three first round picks struggle live in your prospect camp, I can't help but wonder what say you had in your picks and what you were thinking in the first place. Dallas has some potential in their system, but that fact, plus the development of their first rounders, puts them last here
GM's who did not Qualify to be Ranked
1) Marc Bergevin- Montreal Canadiens
2) Kevin Cheveldayoff- Winnipeg Jets
3) Jay Feaster- Calgary Flames
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