Move over Jim Benning, Joe Sakic is the worst GM in the NHL (long)

Alex Jones

BIG BOWL 'A CHILI!!
Jun 8, 2009
33,488
5,940
Conspiratron 9000
There's been a lot of talk of late regarding the Avs dumping their core and blowing it up. Some people seem to be mistaken that Joe Sakic deserves a shot to rebuild the team. He doesn't. He has built the worst team in the NHL (while spending to the cap) and doesn't deserve to spend another day as an NHL GM.

Joe is one of my favorite all time players, and an NHL legend, but there is no way that he should ever be at the helm of an NHL franchise again. While he has shown some ability to keep the talent that he has, Sakic has an abysmal record when it comes to bringing in talent.

A breakdown of his moves. I left out a bunch of two way contracts and minor deals like that. None of them have really been impactful either way. A couple of guys on two way/small deals played way too many games at the NHL level, but that's more a function of the Avs poor scouting and depth, not an indictment of those players or the deals they were signed to.


Good moves:

Sakic has shown the ability to resign players at a team-friendly number. As a former player Joe seems to insist on treating players with professional respect, and I think that guys respond to this treatment.

He has signed Duchene, Landeskog, Varlamov, Barrie, and Mackinnon to pretty friendly deals. For as much as I'm about to bash Sakic, he does deserve genuine credit for this.




Mixed moves:


Did resign ROR to a two year deal. It was basically just kicking the can down the road, but two extra years of O'Reilly certainly isn't a negative. Perhaps this should be in the "good moves" category.

Traded Steve Downie for Max Talbot. Two players that have declined hard and were pretty useless after this trade. Meh.

Resigned Erik Johnson at 6M for seven years. I suspect this will end up in the "bad" category, but I'll reserve judgement for now.

Blockbuster trade, ROR for Zadorov. Obviously there are a lot of moving pieces here, and it's to be seen where Zadorov ends up as a finished prospect. Grigorenko literally puts in a Filatov level effort, Jamie McGinn rules.

Signed Blake Comeau, three years 2.4 per. Comeau is a fustrating player, but a decent bottom sixer. Hasn't always lived up to the contract, but does provide some value.

Trades Connor Bleakley, Kyle Wood, Alex Tanguay for Mikael Boedker. Boedker provides a little value but leaves, Kyle Wood is tearing up the AHL right now. Very close to being in the "bad" category.




Bad moves:

Traded a second round pick for Reto Berra, who sucks.

Resigned Reto Berra to a three year deal. :facepalm:

Resigned John Mitchell for three years at 1.8M a year

Signed Iginla to a three year deal at over 5 mil a year. Did have one good year, but Sakic is paying 16 mil for 56 goals from a scorer. Not good enough.

Traded Parenteau and a fifth for Danny Briere. Briere basically didn't do anything and retired after the season, Parenteau had a couple more decent seasons.

Trades a second and a sixth for a clearly washed up Brad Stuart :facepalm:

Proceeds to give a two year extension to Brad Stuart for 3.6M a year BEFORE HE PLAYS A GAME. :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :cry: To the surprise of nobody he proceeds to play horribly and eventually gets bought out.

Let Paul Stastny walk instead of trading him because the Avs were looking at the playoffs. Horrible asset management, especially when you're not a contender. :facepalm: Horrific.

Signed Carl Soderberg to a five year deal at 4.75 per. Soderberg has 10 points this year and has literally quit trying, he just coasts.

Signed Beauchmin to a three year deal, NMC, 4.5 per. Not an NHL level defenseman right now. Had a good half a season, but is horrible. If he wasn't on this huge contract I literally think he would be in the AHL right now.

Trades a third for Eric Gelinas, a player who cannot skate, handle the puck, play defense, or seemingly do anything other than shoot at an NHL level. He sucks.

Signs Joe Colborne to a two year, 2.5M per year deal. I bet Joe Colborne has a nice smelling locker because there's no way he breaks a sweat out there. Only forward that I have ever watched at any level that has literally stood in one spot for an entire PK.

Signed Fedor Tyutin to a one year, 2M deal. Not the worst in terms of length, but Tyutin is horrible and an AHL level plug at this point.


I understand that prospects take time to reach the NHL, but Sakic is coming up on his fifth draft as Avs GM and only two players (Mackinnon and Rantanen) are currently on the team, and 2014 first round pick Conner Bleackley didn't even get an ELC.






Joe Sakic has been wheeling and dealing for depth for four years now and has literally come up with nothing. A couple players on big contracts have had one good year and then become an albatross, today the best player that Sakic has brought in is Blake freaking Comeau. Somebody tell me why he deserves another day. Totally clueless. Avs are horrible and Joe Sakic is a massive culprit.
 

SI90

Registered User
Jul 25, 2011
85,039
62,501
StrongIsland
Can he make a few more bad decisions please? Like trading Duchene and/or Lando to the isles. I can dream right
 

Revelation

Registered User
Aug 15, 2016
5,298
2,963
He can't tell if a player is deadwood or not, which is kiss of death as an NHL manager.

Comeau/Colborne/Mitchell/Bourque/Tyutin/Stuart/Guenin/Briere/Berra... so much utter fluff :facepalm:
 

Joe Sakic

Kaut + 1st
Jul 19, 2010
5,715
1,114
Colorado
I agree completely with you.

Another issue I have is that our past tree head coaches (Bednar, Roy, Sacco) have all been rookie NHL head coaches. We need to bring in someone with some experience for once.
 

Ducks in a row

Go Ducks Quack Quack
Dec 17, 2013
18,004
4,356
U.S.A.
Let Paul Stastny walk instead of trading him because the Avs were looking at the playoffs. Horrible asset management, especially when you're not a contender. :facepalm: Horrific.

His final season with the Avalanche they had been 52-22-8 112 points division winner. Why would a team like that of traded him instead of going for it in the playoffs? Teams that are playing in the playoffs don't tend to trade good players away they tend to trade for players to help for the playoffs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Drakon

Nuckles

_________
Apr 27, 2010
28,310
3,347
heck
Benning is worse.

- Kesler for Bonino, 21st overall, and Sbisa (not a cap dump, he was targeted in trade...)
- Garrison (top 4 d-man at time) for late 2nd
- That late 2nd for Linden Vey
- 3rd for Dorsett
- 3rd for Andrey Pedan
- Gustav Forsling for Adam Clendening
- Kassian + 5th for Prust
- Bonino, 2nd, and Clendening for Sutter and 3rd
- Lack for 3rd
- Shinkaruk for Granlund
- McCann, 33rd overall, and 4th for Gudbranson and 5th
- 5th for Larsen


- Sbisa signed for 3 years, $3.6M per year (as an RFA)
- Miller signed for 3 years, $6M per year with an almost full NTC
- Dorsett signed for 4 years, $2.65M per year
- Sutter signed for 5 years, $4.375M per year
- Eriksson signed for 6 years, $6M per year with NTC/NMC and is buyout-proof


- Let Hamhuis, Vrbata, Richardson, Matthias walk for nothing as UFAs
 

Oscar Lindberg

Registered User
Dec 14, 2015
15,597
14,381
CA
I'm not seeing anything on this list about trading all star, top pairing defenseman Nick Holden for a 4th....
 

Nalens Oga

Registered User
Jan 5, 2010
16,780
1,053
Canada
^^ Holden was actually one of his better moves lmao. I couldn't believe he managed to get something back for Holden based on how Holden played in Colorado, my expectations of him were so low that I assumed we'd only get rid of Holden by letting him walk or waiving him.

Anyways, Benning at least tries. Sakic mostly just sits around till he's forced to make a move. He's not GM material. Some people will still defend him which is crazy. Imagine being so bad at your job and still having people defend you and wanting to give you third and fourth chances.
 

PAZ

.
Jul 14, 2011
17,360
9,708
BC
Benning is worse.

- Kesler for Bonino, 21st overall, and Sbisa (not a cap dump, he was targeted in trade...)
- Garrison (top 4 d-man at time) for late 2nd
- That late 2nd for Linden Vey
- 3rd for Dorsett
- 3rd for Andrey Pedan
- Gustav Forsling for Adam Clendening
- Kassian + 5th for Prust
- Bonino, 2nd, and Clendening for Sutter and 3rd
- Lack for 3rd
- Shinkaruk for Granlund
- McCann, 33rd overall, and 4th for Gudbranson and 5th
- 5th for Larsen


- Sbisa signed for 3 years, $3.6M per year (as an RFA)
- Miller signed for 3 years, $6M per year with an almost full NTC
- Dorsett signed for 4 years, $2.65M per year
- Sutter signed for 5 years, $4.375M per year
- Eriksson signed for 6 years, $6M per year with NTC/NMC and is buyout-proof


- Let Hamhuis, Vrbata, Richardson, Matthias walk for nothing as UFAs

When Benning took over the Canucks were still going to decline. While Benning might have more horrible transactions overall, it hasn't had the overall negative impact compared to the Avs.

Sakic literally killed a rebuild that had the potential to be a perennial playoff/cup contender. There wasn't one completely bone-headed moves when it happened, but there's too many horrible moves in retrospect which is not acceptable. The Iginla/Stuart move basically prevented the resigning of both Stastny and O'Reilly. He did inherit a poor situation with regards to ROR, but that's just another excuse to add.

I believe Sakic has really good ideas, but his execution is lacking. Not to mention his evaluations of players makes it hard to see his positive traits.
 

GarbageGoal

Courage
Dec 1, 2005
22,353
2,377
RI
Too many teams nowadays who want to put their "greatest player" in that executive role, and then can't tell them to get out because it soils the history.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gazorpazorp

Murzu

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Dec 23, 2013
6,116
9,139
Finland
And here, we, go.

Good moves:

Sakic has shown the ability to resign players at a team-friendly number. As a former player Joe seems to insist on treating players with professional respect, and I think that guys respond to this treatment.

He has signed Duchene, Landeskog, Varlamov, Barrie, and Mackinnon to pretty friendly deals. For as much as I'm about to bash Sakic, he does deserve genuine credit for this.

I agree completely, he made good deals for every one of those players.

Mixed moves:

Did resign ROR to a two year deal. It was basically just kicking the can down the road, but two extra years of O'Reilly certainly isn't a negative. Perhaps this should be in the "good moves" category.

It was either that deal or arbitration deal. Ryan O'Reilly was not gonna stay. There was nothing he could do, other than try to salvage the situation with giving him a deal instead of arbitrator. ROR asked 8x8 from the Avs, basically forced his way out as he wanted to be the guy.

Traded Steve Downie for Max Talbot. Two players that have declined hard and were pretty useless after this trade. Meh.

Was not fan of that trade, but my own hunch is that Roy played a big part in this deal.

Resigned Erik Johnson at 6M for seven years. I suspect this will end up in the "bad" category, but I'll reserve judgement for now.

Good market value for #1-2D. Don't give him the contract and let him walk? Sure, that is a great idea. No problems with the deal.

Blockbuster trade, ROR for Zadorov. Obviously there are a lot of moving pieces here, and it's to be seen where Zadorov ends up as a finished prospect. Grigorenko literally puts in a Filatov level effort, Jamie McGinn rules.

ROR forced his way out. Not too many were able to give him the contract he was going to demand. Zadorov looks great, Compher looks promising, AJ Greer looks very promising and Cam Morrison just began his NCAA career and is playing 0.5ppg. McGinn was coming off from back surgery and I believe he can be evaluated as basically a toss in, like Grigorenko. Grigo is busting, which is a shame. This was a very good trade for the organization.

Signed Blake Comeau, three years 2.4 per. Comeau is a fustrating player, but a decent bottom sixer. Hasn't always lived up to the contract, but does provide some value.

I like Comeau with that value. Decent bottom six player. Nothing wrong with this deal to me.

Trades Connor Bleakley, Kyle Wood, Alex Tanguay for Mikael Boedker. Boedker provides a little value but leaves, Kyle Wood is tearing up the AHL right now. Very close to being in the "bad" category.

I like Boedker, but I don't like this trade either. Boedker almost stayed in Denver, but SJS upped their offer and he left. Would be a different trade if we had him instead of I don't know, Colborne?

Bad moves:

Traded a second round pick for Reto Berra, who sucks.

An overpayment, but the team was going to playoffs and Jiggy was having back problems. They needed a backup. They trusted Allaires opinion on the guy, and why shouldn't they? The guy made Varly great 13-14 season.

Resigned Reto Berra to a three year deal. :facepalm:

They believed that Allaire coaching would do Berra good and needed a backup. A year too much term, and I'm not a fan of this trade, but there were legit reasons behind it.

Resigned John Mitchell for three years at 1.8M a year

Outside from this year, Mitchell has played decently in his bottom six role. Last year Skille, Mitchell and McLeod were a great 4th line. Not a great deal, but not a bad deal either.

Signed Iginla to a three year deal at over 5 mil a year. Did have one good year, but Sakic is paying 16 mil for 56 goals from a scorer. Not good enough.

They had to fill the Stastny void somehow. Iginla was not their first target. Not a great deal, but they had to sign someone to fill the production void left by Stastny.

Traded Parenteau and a fifth for Danny Briere. Briere basically didn't do anything and retired after the season, Parenteau had a couple more decent seasons.

No one wanted Parenteau. They didn't want to pay him. That 5th rounder saved them millions.

Trades a second and a sixth for a clearly washed up Brad Stuart :facepalm:

Proceeds to give a two year extension to Brad Stuart for 3.6M a year BEFORE HE PLAYS A GAME. :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :cry: To the surprise of nobody he proceeds to play horribly and eventually gets bought out.

Here we agree, horrible.

Let Paul Stastny walk instead of trading him because the Avs were looking at the playoffs. Horrible asset management, especially when you're not a contender. :facepalm: Horrific.

They were going to playoffs and were on fire. There is a legit reason why they didn't sell him. If they were a wild card team, things might have been different.

Signed Carl Soderberg to a five year deal at 4.75 per. Soderberg has 10 points this year and has literally quit trying, he just coasts.

ROR left and they wanted center depth. Söderberg was the best center available that summer and they managed to sign him under 5M per. Decent deal, other than Söderberg has no interest playing. That is not Sakics fault.

Signed Beauchmin to a three year deal, NMC, 4.5 per. Not an NHL level defenseman right now. Had a good half a season, but is horrible. If he wasn't on this huge contract I literally think he would be in the AHL right now.

I'd blame Roy here. Roy negotiated this whole deal, its well documented. Also Roy played him 27 mins a night regularly last season, and he looked great. But it also destroyed his legs and now he is what he is.

Trades a third for Eric Gelinas, a player who cannot skate, handle the puck, play defense, or seemingly do anything other than shoot at an NHL level. He sucks.

Gelinas had promise, but I agree, he stinks. We should be getting draft picks, not giving them away, but Gelinas was an established NHL player (6-7th defender IMO). He is not old, if they could had developed his game even a little bit that is much better than what an average 3rd round pick turn into - that is right, mostly they turn into nothing.

Signs Joe Colborne to a two year, 2.5M per year deal. I bet Joe Colborne has a nice smelling locker because there's no way he breaks a sweat out there. Only forward that I have ever watched at any level that has literally stood in one spot for an entire PK.

I blame Bednar much more on Colbornes production than Sakic. He is in the doghouse and never gets out from there.

Signed Fedor Tyutin to a one year, 2M deal. Not the worst in terms of length, but Tyutin is horrible and an AHL level plug at this point.

Tyutin is not horrible, he is serviceable NHL defenseman on the bottom pairing. He was also brought in to mentor Zadorov.

I understand that prospects take time to reach the NHL, but Sakic is coming up on his fifth draft as Avs GM and only two players (Mackinnon and Rantanen) are currently on the team, and 2014 first round pick Conner Bleackley didn't even get an ELC.

I didn't provide sources cause I don't have them and I'm not too interested in using hours to dig em up.. But all these things have been discussed in lenght in Avs board and you know that. Sakic is gun shy, but I'd rather have him as GM of the Avs than Benning.
 

Hockeyfan2390

Registered User
Nov 19, 2010
8,956
6,346
Kansas City, MO
ken-holland-2011-5-13-1-10-38.jpg
 

TheForsbergShow

Registered User
Apr 4, 2016
1,202
1,296
Edmonton
Ya this thread doesn't have an agenda.

It's one thing to think he isn't a good gm, its another to just post all these "bad" things without context on some of them.

You mention half of the O'reilly return. Everyone knew that trade wouldn't look great even two years after. Greer who was drafted with that extra pick was just named to the AHL all star game at like 19 and Compher will most likely be on the team next year as well.

The whole poor asset management with Stastny is such a mind boggling thing. What gm in their right mind would sell a pretty important player that year in Stastny at the trade deadline when they were first in the division? It is one thing if they were sellers, but if you are at the top of the division no gm is going to trade a player like him. What kind of message does that send to the rest of the players? They may not have had fancy analytics but they had a decent chance of at least the 2nd round or more if they kept riding a hot goalie. If it wasn't for Barrie getting hurt they might have actually made it to the 2nd round.

Mitchell has been horrible this year sure, but he was the teams whipping boy for many years because he was asked to play more than he should. He was never a world beater but he has been pretty decent most other years until this one.

The Briere trade was pretty pointless and idk why a 5th was included, but PA was supposedly not clicking with Roy or whoever so he was basically moved out, same with Downie (altercations with teammates if i remember)

Soderberg again is what he is, he should be on the 3rd line providing 45-50 points a year, he did his job last season but this team has no depth anywhere so is asked to do more than he should.

You list all of these so called bad things like Tyutin, im sorry but lots of teams have a dman like him. It was a stop gap pickup for a team that knew it wasn;t going anywhere this year.

This team was a mess from the ground up the second he took over. When we had zero impact prospects making the team except like Barrie within the past 4 years what do you expect this team to do? The only way this team had any chance of getting better was via FA and that never looks good a couple years down the line in todays NHL. This team had like 6 valuable assets when he was brought in and one was leaving regardless (ROR) and the other wanted to get paid (Stas).

Im not saying he gets all the credit for at least making a decent prospect pool with some upside, but he has been light years better than we have ever had in that department which is sad to say lol.
 

tigervixxxen

Optimism=Delusional
Jul 7, 2013
53,056
6,154
Denver
burgundy-review.com
I can't believe the Boedker trade goes into the mixed category. It was absolutely deplorable and furled purely by delusion and ignorance, completely indicative of the ineptitude and incompetence the OP is trying to argue for. It will go down as the signature move and a bow on how they've run the franchise for three years, death by a thousand paper cuts and yet we are here and can't stop the bleeding.
 

Alex Jones

BIG BOWL 'A CHILI!!
Jun 8, 2009
33,488
5,940
Conspiratron 9000
His final season with the Avalanche they had been 52-22-8 112 points division winner. Why would a team like that of traded him instead of going for it in the playoffs? Teams that are playing in the playoffs don't tend to trade good players away they tend to trade for players to help for the playoffs.

Avs were also getting badly outshot every night and Varlamov was going superman mode to save the team. That squad was not good. Look at the defense, one of the worst in the NHL. Anybody with any sense could tell you that team probably wasn't a contender. Unfortunately the Avs front office lacks any sense.
 

Alex Jones

BIG BOWL 'A CHILI!!
Jun 8, 2009
33,488
5,940
Conspiratron 9000
Avs were 25th in the league in terms of shots against the year they won the Central. They were also 20th in shots per game.

They should have gotten value for Stastny. Difference between a good and bad front office is the ability to tell the wheat from the chaff, and the Avs front office bought into the false hope of that team. A better FO would have gotten value.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->