Building a Stanley Cup contender starts at the top. Ownership might not build the roster, but a general manager (GM) does. Bill Zito’s work with the Florida Panthers turned a franchise that was a punchline into a juggernaut, a destination, and a dynasty in the making.
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Ranking a GM, however, is all about perception compared to results. In this piece, multiple contributors from The Hockey Writers (THW) added their insight to help determine who is the most overrated GM heading into this season.
5. Chris Drury, New York Rangers
The general perception of New York Rangers GM Chris Drury is that he’s done a good job after being hired into a great situation. However, he has made many questionable moves, and now, he’s in the hot seat. The Rangers head into this season with an aging roster. They are desperate to return to the playoffs, but aren’t talented enough to do so, largely due to Drury.
Drury’s biggest mistakes have been his coaching hires. When Gerard Gallant was hired in June 2021, he was expected to take the team to the next level, yet two seasons later, nothing had changed, and he was fired. The same thing happened with Peter Laviolette, who was hired in June 2023. He took the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final in 2024, but the next season, he lost his grip on the team, and they fell apart, resulting in his firing.
Drury hired Mike Sullivan this offseason with hopes that he’ll turn things around, but with a depleted farm system and minimal depth, it will be a tall task. Another rough season will see the public (and ownership) turn on the GM.
4. Ken Holland, LA Kings
Ken Holland is known to be a smart, experienced GM who can build Cup contenders. When the Los Angeles Kings hired him, the feeling was that he would make them the best team in the Western Conference, or at least beat the Edmonton Oilers in the First Round of the playoffs (as a former Oilers GM, he should know how to beat them).
Now in his first offseason in Los Angeles, fans are already seeing the downside to his style. He signed multiple veterans who won’t move the needle or make the Kings a Cup-caliber team. Some would argue that the aging skaters he brought in might make the team worse.
Holland is best known for his success with the Detroit Red Wings (where he won four championships between 1997 and 2019), but his run with the Oilers was underwhelming. Teams still hire him, hoping he’ll make them great, but just because he won the Cup two decades ago doesn’t mean he’ll turn back the clock and build a team that can win now.
3. Brad Treliving, Toronto Maple Leafs
Brad Treliving is seen as one of the best GMs in the NHL. He builds contenders based on strong defense who play a physical brand and come prepared for the playoffs. The problem is that Treliving’s teams make the playoffs but don’t go on deep runs.
When he was with the Calgary Flames, they were a good team but never great. Now that he’s with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he’s set them up to be successful, and hiring Craig Berube as head coach has the team playing a brand of hockey better suited for the playoffs. Yet, there’s a big-picture issue with the way Treliving manages.
He lets his stars walk. That became a turning point of his tenure with the Flames, most notably in the 2022 offseason, when the late Johnny Gaudreau left in free agency and Matthew Tkachuk demanded a trade. With the Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner left in the offseason, when early signs indicated he would stay in Toronto. This will backfire at some point, especially if the Maple Leafs are depleted of star power down the road.
2. Kyle Dubas, Pittsburgh Penguins
The perception of Kyle Dubas is that he’s done a great job of getting the Pittsburgh Penguins set up for a rebuild. However, the first issue with Dubas is that the Penguins might be the worst team in the NHL, which started under his watch as GM.
Then there’s his time with the Maple Leafs, when he was handed the keys to build them into a contender. Dubas, who was a young and unproven GM, was given a great core to work with, yet left the Maple Leafs in a cycle of first-round playoff losses.
At the time, Dubas is seen as a wunderkind who is forward-thinking and could outsmart the rest of the league, but it’s made him a lightning rod for criticism, especially as an analytics-driven executive who doesn’t have a great feel for the game. Whether that’s true or not, it’s made him a GM that can quickly be labelled overrated.
1. Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings
The Yzerplan has taken on a lot of heat for coming up short. Steve Yzerman was hired to make the Red Wings a juggernaut in 2019. Yet, as he enters his sixth season as GM, they remain a middle-of-the-pack team while other rebuilding teams have passed them by.
It’s easy to see Yzerman as the savior. After all, he turned the Tampa Bay Lightning into a model franchise during his tenure as their GM. However, the Lightning never got to the finish line with Yzerman. He built a great team, but his successor, Julien BriseBois, got them over the hump (and should get more credit for it).
Yzerman hasn’t had a great run building the Red Wings’ roster. He’s added a lot of good players, but not an elite talent that can get them into the playoff conversation. Not to mention the team’s goaltending woes. The hope is that he’s finally found his starter in John Gibson, after going through a list longer than a CVS receipt.
It’s also about finding the right staff, specifically, the right head coach, to get the most out of the group. Yzerman was patient, maybe too patient, with Jeff Blashill. When he finally had a chance to hire someone, which he did in the 2022 offseason, he brought in Derek Lalonde, only to fire him two and a half seasons later. The Todd McLellan hire might work out, but early on, it looks like an underwhelming move as well.
All of this is why two things have happened to Yzerman. The public perception has changed, and the pressure is on. The Red Wings head into this season with a sense of urgency to make the playoffs, with their GM being the most desperate of them all.
Other Overrated NHL General Managers
Jim Rutherford isn’t a GM, but he runs the Vancouver Canucks, and his legacy has overshadowed the mediocre job he’s done with the team. The Canucks are coming off a disastrous season and are on their fourth head coach during his tenure, meaning, maybe it’s not the person behind the bench to blame for only one playoff appearance in five seasons.
Kevyn Adams would also be an overrated GM if the public hadn’t already turned on him. At first, it seemed like his rebuild had promise, but his asset mismanagement has the Buffalo Sabres on the outside of the playoff picture still, extending the longest drought in the history of the NHL.
Kyle Davidson had a great run kickstarting the rebuild for the Chicago Blackhawks, yet his subsequent moves have him on the firing line. Davidson could be under a lot of pressure if the Blackhawks remain one of the worst teams in the NHL without much progress (which is becoming a theme from the recent seasons).
Which GM do you think is overrated? Let us know in the comments section below.
