Worst Jets GM

[Scheifele55]

Draft wise, even though people seem to disagree... Mike Smith drafted better players:

1989
Stu Barnes
Kris Draper
Dan Bylsma
Evgeny Davydov

1990
Keith Tkachuk
Alexei Zhamnov

1991
Aaron Ward
Igor Ulanov

1992
Boris Mironov
Nikolai Khabibulin

1993
Mats Lindgren
Michal Grosek

 

[fatschoonerrat]

IIRC, Don Waddell's five-year plan started in 2004.

 

[angrymnky]

Draft wise, even though people seem to disagree... Mike Smith drafted better players:

Hawerchuk, Teemu, Steen, Ellett, Babych, Mullen, Essensa, Numminen and Dave Christian aren't too shabby.

And I don't get the looking who the GM missed game. You don't think Smith missed good players?

 

[blueandgoldguy]

No way in hell Selanne does what he does in his rookie season without Housely.

The forward depth and defensive layout of the team screamed for an offensive defenseman.

Housely + Tkachuk >>> Hawerchuk and when you consider organizational needs it was a slam dunk

The Jets already had three offensive defensemen when they traded for Housley. It really wasn't a need. IF they had turned around and traded one of the other three then it might have made sense. As it was, they got off to a terrible start, partly due to lack of scoring depth upfront and ended up trading away Ellett and Fenton for Osborne and Olcyzk.

Sure, Selanne wouldn't have broken those records with all those outlet passes Phil gave, but I doubt Smith had visions of that 3 seasons prior.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Hawerchuk and Mike Smith apparently had a bad falling out, not to be out done as well, Housley had a bad falling out with Smith.

That whole 1993-1994 season was probably the most horrendous season I can recall, Selanne had a sophomore slump and gets injured half way through the season, Bob Essensa gets traded to Detroit for Tim Cheveldae, we lose 50+ games, Stu Barnes gets traded for Randy Gilhen, blah..such a mess.

One of the few bright spots was Keith Tkachuk's 40 goal season, finally breaking out to his power forward routine.

I remember Hawerchuk saying the Jets 1.0 was like a big family that was very community oriented and the players and their families did many things together. A tight-knit group as it were when Fergie was here. Apparently that feeling began to dissipate once Smith took over.

 

[Scheifele55]

Hawerchuk, Teemu, Steen, Ellett, Babych, Mullen, Essensa, Numminen and Dave Christian aren't too shabby.

And I don't get the looking who the GM missed game. You don't think Smith missed good players?

Ferguson was handed Hawerchuk on a platter, Babych was also given to him. The rest were great draft choices. Sadly Christian and Mullen he dealt after 1 good year with the Jets for lesser talent.

Who Mike Smith passed over:

1989
Stu Barnes over Bill Guerin (good pick over a great pick)

1990
Keith Tkachuk over Martin Brodeur (great pick over HOF pick)

1991
Aaron Ward over Peter Forsberg (okay pick over HOF pick)

1992
Sergei Bautin over Jason Smith (bad pick over okay pick)

1993
Mats Lindgren over Nick Studajar (okay pick over FLOP)

In all cases except 1993, Mike Smith could have taken a better player who went next. The thing is, Barnes/Tkachuk were above average selections for the 1st round and after Guerin and Brodeur the pickings got slim and a few players had equal seasons.

 

[Jets4Life]

Draft wise, even though people seem to disagree... Mike Smith drafted better players:

1989
Stu Barnes
Kris Draper
Dan Bylsma
Evgeny Davydov

1990
Keith Tkachuk
Alexei Zhamnov

1991
Aaron Ward
Igor Ulanov

1992
Boris Mironov
Nikolai Khabibulin

1993
Mats Lindgren
Michal Grosek

First off, sorry for bringing up an old thread. I found it interesting, and wanted to keep it going rather than start from scratch.

Just to assess the picks mentioned, that I bolded:

Dan Bylsma- career minor leaguer. Never played a game for the Jets, and played most of his NHL games in his early 30s

Evgeny Davydov- Was promising, and could have been a star. No work ethic. Career journeyman. Best remembered for being the first player to leave the bench at the "Punch Up at Piestany in the 87' WJC."

Aaron Ward- although not a horrible pick, Smith passed on players like Forsberg, Kovalev, Rolston, Boucher, Markus Naslund, Glen Murray, and Rusinsky. The 91' draft was one of the richest drafts ever. The Jets had the #5 pick too.

Boris Mironov- unremarkable career, 1st round draft pick.

Mats Lindgren- never played a game for the Jets, and had an unremarkable career.

Michal Grosek- career minor league player.

I will give Smith credit for someone he didn't draft. Smith was desperate to draft Pavel Bure. However, both the Jets and Oilers were informed that he would not be available, in the 89' Draft. Vancouver ended up picking him anyway in the later rounds. For some reason the Canucks, Jets, and Oilers were told completely different things about his eligibility. IIRC, the Jets and Oilers filed a complaint to the NHL, but Bure was allowed to stay with Vancouver.

Imagine Bure, Zhamnov, and Selanne on the same line? That would ahve been deadly.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Mike Smith without questions asked.

Got lucky with the players he drafted, it was like pin the tail on the donkey.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Mike Smith without questions asked.

Got lucky with the players he drafted, it was like pin the tail on the donkey.

Hmm, maybe not. Per Wikipedia:

Smith was named Executive of the Year by The Sporting News after the 2001-02 season, while with the Blackhawks. Mike Smith drafted several future NHL stars, such as Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, Alexei Zhamnov, Igor Korolev, Nikolai Khabibulin, Keith Tkachuk, Kris Draper, Corey Crawford, James Wisniewski, and Stu Barnes.

 

[Jet]

Hmm, maybe not. Per Wikipedia:

Smith was named Executive of the Year by The Sporting News after the 2001-02 season, while with the Blackhawks. Mike Smith drafted several future NHL stars, such as Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, Alexei Zhamnov, Igor Korolev, Nikolai Khabibulin, Keith Tkachuk, Kris Draper, Corey Crawford, James Wisniewski, and Stu Barnes.

People will always call Smith the worst because he was a bit of a nut, always looked borderline insane with that disheveled hair, and had to do some really bad deals at the bidding of the owners looking to save money.

He wasn't perfect, but he had some revolutionary ideas and I believe he found a way to ice a competitive team in an era where money talked and the Jets had none.

 

[sully1410]

First off, sorry for bringing up an old thread. I found it interesting, and wanted to keep it going rather than start from scratch.

Just to assess the picks mentioned, that I bolded:

Dan Bylsma- career minor leaguer. Never played a game for the Jets, and played most of his NHL games in his early 30s

Evgeny Davydov- Was promising, and could have been a star. No work ethic. Career journeyman. Best remembered for being the first player to leave the bench at the "Punch Up at Piestany in the 87' WJC."

Aaron Ward- although not a horrible pick, Smith passed on players like Forsberg, Kovalev, Rolston, Boucher, Markus Naslund, Glen Murray, and Rusinsky. The 91' draft was one of the richest drafts ever. The Jets had the #5 pick too.

Boris Mironov- unremarkable career, 1st round draft pick.

Mats Lindgren- never played a game for the Jets, and had an unremarkable career.

Michal Grosek- career minor league player.

I will give Smith credit for someone he didn't draft. Smith was desperate to draft Pavel Bure. However, both the Jets and Oilers were informed that he would not be available, in the 89' Draft. Vancouver ended up picking him anyway in the later rounds. For some reason the Canucks, Jets, and Oilers were told completely different things about his eligibility. IIRC, the Jets and Oilers filed a complaint to the NHL, but Bure was allowed to stay with Vancouver.

Imagine Bure, Zhamnov, and Selanne on the same line? That would ahve been deadly.

Stanley cup worthy.

 

[Scheifele55]

I just found another reason why John Ferguson was the worst GM not only in Winnipeg Jets history, but NHL history. Picture it, 1980, Winnipeg Jets took Dave Babych 2nd overall instead of Denis Savard (3rd), Larry Murphy (4th), or Paul Coffey (6th) and then come the 6th round, he had the choice of taking one of the most durable players of the 1980s who almost broke Doug Jarvis' record and averaged over 1 PPG or a local goaltender who played 1 NHL game and 1 AHL game. He sets the NHL record (I am quite sure) for worst NHL debut allowing 10 goals which is better than his AHL career allowing 5 goals in 29 minutes. Ferguson took the goaltender (Ron Loustel) whereas the Blackhawks took the yearly all-star (Steve Larmer).

 

[razorsedge]

Nah, it's still Mike Smith. He chased Hawerchuk out, and drafted nothing but Russians for the sake of drafting Russians.

 

[ThinIce61]

Comrade Mikhail Smithnov

 

[flyingkiwi]

Cheveldayoff shouldn`t be considered as he has been around for 2 years and

Had me so confused for a second...

Did anyone else back in 2013 think we'd still have only had 4 GMs in 2022?

 

[voyageur]

People will always call Smith the worst because he was a bit of a nut, always looked borderline insane with that disheveled hair, and had to do some really bad deals at the bidding of the owners looking to save money.

He wasn't perfect, but he had some revolutionary ideas and I believe he found a way to ice a competitive team in an era where money talked and the Jets had none.

His trades though were brutal.

Housley for Emerson and Quintal, so you think that Hawerchuk was still putting up 80 point seasons, and that's the end result.

Not to mention trading Ellett for Olczyk primarily, and then flipping Olcyzk for King and Domi, is a big reason why Toronto was in the 93 Western Conference final and the Jets were a 1st round KO.

Barnes for an aging Randy Gihlen, who went on to play for the Moose. That was the year after Barnes was one of the best players on the Jets in the playoff series vs. Vancouver, in a 4th line role. He went on to be a very effective 2nd line centre, which he should have been here.

Kris Draper for $1

Aaron Ward for Ysabaert

Troy Murray for Steve Bancroft.

After acquiring Troy Murray for Bryan Marchment.

Brent Ashton for Petri Skriko.

Tabaracci for Jim Hrvniak and an unknown Russian d-man.

Almost every trade Smith made weakened the depth of the team. He had a different method than Ferguson for drafting talent, and I don't know who was worse at scouting, or trades, to be honest. I'd say Smith's trades are egregiously worse. The worst Ferguson trade at least was made from a position of strength, as the Jets had Ellett and Carlyle when they traded Babych. Drafting Jimmy Mann with his first ever pick was bad, but he did get guys like Steen and Selanne, so that's worth something.

I also don't know which was more unlikeable. Bobby Hull hated Ferguson. Hawerchuk hated Smith. I am just glad those days are bygone.

 

[SUX2BU]

Smith AINEC

 

[cbcwpg]

Mikhail Smith

Sergei Kharin - First Russian born player to play a game with the Jets

Aaron Ward - Drafting him 5th overall and then trading him with a 4th for Paul Ysebaert . Ward played 839 games in NHL.

Dmitri Filimonov, Roman Meluzin, Sergei Sorokin, Yan Kaminsky, Alexander Alexeev, Artur Oktyabrev, Andrei Raisky, Alexei Budayev, Ruslan Batyrshin, Ravil Gusmanov ... and the list goes on...

 

[Jet]

His trades though were brutal.

Housley for Emerson and Quintal, so you think that Hawerchuk was still putting up 80 point seasons, and that's the end result.

Not to mention trading Ellett for Olczyk primarily, and then flipping Olcyzk for King and Domi, is a big reason why Toronto was in the 93 Western Conference final and the Jets were a 1st round KO.

Barnes for an aging Randy Gihlen, who went on to play for the Moose. That was the year after Barnes was one of the best players on the Jets in the playoff series vs. Vancouver, in a 4th line role. He went on to be a very effective 2nd line centre, which he should have been here.

Kris Draper for $1

Aaron Ward for Ysabaert

Troy Murray for Steve Bancroft.

After acquiring Troy Murray for Bryan Marchment.

Brent Ashton for Petri Skriko.

Tabaracci for Jim Hrvniak and an unknown Russian d-man.

Almost every trade Smith made weakened the depth of the team. He had a different method than Ferguson for drafting talent, and I don't know who was worse at scouting, or trades, to be honest. I'd say Smith's trades are egregiously worse. The worst Ferguson trade at least was made from a position of strength, as the Jets had Ellett and Carlyle when they traded Babych. Drafting Jimmy Mann with his first ever pick was bad, but he did get guys like Steen and Selanne, so that's worth something.

I also don't know which was more unlikeable. Bobby Hull hated Ferguson. Hawerchuk hated Smith. I am just glad those days are bygone.

Money. We had none and Smith was always trying to find cheap diamonds in the rough for players we could no longer afford.

 

[Jets 31]

Man reading this thread alot of people have been on here for a very long time, kind of neat to see. My vote would be Mike Smith just because he could never afford a brush or a comb for his hair the whole time he was here.

 

[ps241]

I just found another reason why John Ferguson was the worst GM not only in Winnipeg Jets history, but NHL history. Picture it, 1980, Winnipeg Jets took Dave Babych 2nd overall instead of Denis Savard (3rd), Larry Murphy (4th), or Paul Coffey (6th) and then come the 6th round, he had the choice of taking one of the most durable players of the 1980s who almost broke Doug Jarvis' record and averaged over 1 PPG or a local goaltender who played 1 NHL game and 1 AHL game. He sets the NHL record (I am quite sure) for worst NHL debut allowing 10 goals which is better than his AHL career allowing 5 goals in 29 minutes. Ferguson took the goaltender (Ron Loustel) whereas the Blackhawks took the yearly all-star (Steve Larmer).

A legendary bump after 6 years on moth balls.

 

[Jaytee]

Ferguson was the worst for draft picks. Smith was the worst for the way he treated (and got rid of) star players.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

So so young and not old enough to know anyone other than Chevy honestly. But the one guy I do remember cuz he looked like he never combed his hair

Mike Smith

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Always weird to see a necro thread pop up!

What Mike Smith tried and failed to do, the Detroit Red Wings tried and succeeded to do. Drafting and acquiring players outside of the Canadian youth leagues. Smith had a good idea, but didn't seem to know good players from bad (I'm looking at you Sergei Bautin).

 

[Jet]

Always weird to see a necro thread pop up!

What Mike Smith tried and failed to do, the Detroit Red Wings tried and succeeded to do. Drafting and acquiring players outside of the Canadian youth leagues. Smith had a good idea, but didn't seem to know good players from bad (I'm looking at you Sergei Bautin).

Again, the main difference was money. Smith didn't have it. He also managed to find some gems in Nik Khabibulin, Alexei Zhamnov, Evgeny Davydov and Igor Korolev (picked up on waivers). Igor Ulanov was an adventure but ended up having a pretty good nhl career.

Also, I think Smith might have done ok in the 1988 draft as the Jets diectpr of scouting