Best GM At Drafting?

[Frk It]

nvm - misunderstood... delete

 

[TK 421]

It's still early but so far he's had pretty good success in the later rounds.

Heatherington(2nd round) may yet be an NHLer

Bjorkstrand(3rd round) looks like he's a lock for a top 6 role

Merzalkins(3rd round) is a world class goalie who depending on who you talk to, is coming to take a NHL spot next season.

I personally think Stenlund will be a solid middle 6 player(2nd round)

Gavrikov(6th round)was a big force in Russia winning gold recently and should be looking to come over to the NHL now that he has his Olympic medal

Nuttivara(7th round) came in and made an immediate impact and has cemented himself as a top 4dman.

Peeke(2nd round) has been trending upwards and will possibly come play in Cleveland as soon as his season is finished

Abaramovs(3rd round) situation is looking identical to Bjorkstrand, 1st line talent, late round size with a chip on his shoulder to prove everyone wrong.

Texier is a first round talent that slipped to the 2nd round when Columbus didn't have a first

Davidsson(6th round) is one of a few players who could be playing for a NHL roster spot outta training camp this year

Marchenko was their backup first round pick this last draft if they decided to move back at all, which they ended up being able to grab him with their 2nd instead.

I mean St Louis is proof if you just hit on most of your firsts you can build an extremely solid core given some time for those players to develop. Not only for your team but they can be used as trade chips to fix holes on your roster if need be.

Yeah no doubt and honestly it looks like Jarmo has improved in later rounds. Doug Armstrong has evolved as a GM too and I think this is something that gets overlooked often with a lot of management guys around the league.

 

[Jumptheshark]

for me when looking at the best drafting I look beyond those players taken in the first round

 

[Volica]

Drafting isn't a GM thing, it has more to do with staffs.

That all being said, this is easily Chevy.

Guy's got a top 6F or top 4D in the first round of every draft he's been a part of, most of which are top line guys or top pairing guys to boot. Outside of Laine, no pick was a top 5 pick even. Managed to add a star goalie, and good depth from the draft as well during his time.

I really wish every GM was as patient as Chevy. Guy showed that, with time, without knee-jerk moves, things can turn around.

 

[Volica]

for me when looking at the best drafting I look beyond those players taken in the first round

Honestly, nailing picked in the 10-30 range is just as impressive as getting your 3rd round steal.

 

[Jumptheshark]

One of the things I'll never understand is giving the majority of credit to the GM for a good draft record.

99% of the time- The GM has the final say. Things have changed a little--but the GM usually has the final say and settles any argument or dicussion

 

[Jumptheshark]

Honestly, nailing picked in the 10-30 range is just as impressive as getting your 3rd round steal.

respectively disagree

 

[WhatWhat]

Jim Nill AINEC

 

[Brodeur]

99% of the time- The GM has the final say. Things have changed a little--but the GM usually has the final say and settles any argument or dicussion

Each organization is different, but there was a detailed article before this draft with the Devils:

After the interviews at the combine, Castron and Orlando have almost daily conversations as they spend the final few weeks before the draft tweeking the list.

"There comes a point where not everyone has seen everyone play and that's where Gates and I really have to mesh the lists," he explained. "Sometimes Ray or Dan or [Tom Fitzgerald, Devils assistant general manager] only see a guy once and maybe he has a terrible game. They're not going to veto the opinion of a scout that's seen him play multiple times over the course of a season. All they can say is, 'I don't see what you guys see in him.' So, we have to make the decisions for the group. We'll go back to the area scouts and get their opinions, but in the end the decision comes down to Gates and I. We make the list."

Devils general manager Ray Shero concurs: "I'm involved in the discussion, but the decision isn't mine to make when I've never seen them play or have only seen them once. Each of these scouts are here because they're very good at their job and I've got to rely on them and trust their opinion."

But we occasionally see things like Steve Tambellini (perhaps under ownership orders) opting to go against his scouts' list.

During the 2016 Draft, Shero did voice some concern about the team tabbing zero defensemen with our first six picks. So he maybe steered the scouts to look in that direction for the next pick (they'd take Yegor Rykov). Ron Hextall mentioned something similar at this year's draft about maybe preferring a D later in the draft when they got to certain layers.

 

[The Macho King]

He's been terrible in the top 10. He also didn't pick Hedman (That was Lawton). I'd say anyone who picks Connelly and Koekkeok in the top 10 is probably not the best drafter in the league. I'd also say Drouin over Jones (which was contested at the time), and even Monahan (would have been a reach similar to PLD over Puljujarvi) looks pretty bad in retrospect. I don't think he's hit a homerun with any top 10 pick, and in two cases I'd say he struck out.

While their late round hits off-set their misses, I also would wonder why a scouting staff can draft well outside the first but has a bad record in the top 10. It would make me question what exactly is flawed in the process early on, but is working later.

But, as pointed out, GM's are rarely heavily involved, especially outside the first round. Some GM's do have reputations for getting involved in the first, Doug McLean was notorious for this.

He is smart though in knowing when he has a bad asset and moving it in exachange for more chance. He did this with Connolly, and dumped DeAngelo (another bad mid-first rounder) early on.

I'll agree with some of this, although he got hired just before the 2010 draft so he let the previous scouting staff make the picks that draft - his first draft where he exercised control was 2011, so I don't put Connolly on him too much.

Koekkoek was the only pick mentioned that I think was an objectively bad one. Deangelo was a boom-bust, and Drouin wasn't off the board or anything (although I think they should have asked harder questions about whether what worked in juniors would translate). But yeah - to Yzerman's credit his biggest asset is his ability to cut bait with prospects that aren't working out. We got 2 2nds out of Connolly, a high second out of DeAngelo, and Sergachev out of Drouin. When you can turn your busts into quality assets, I'd say that's a good quality.

 

[me2]

After his latest draft, Holland may be having a resurgence.

In many ways that sums it up. Even with good drafting teams it is a coin toss, if it comes up years you are genius, if it is tails a dud. If 30 teams alk toss that coin 6 times some are going to get lots of heads, others a lots of tails. Same coin. We have seen the same scouting staffs go from 3-4 years of drought to 3-4 years of solid hits. Same staff. Were they a good staff on a bad run or a bad staff on a luckyl streak, or just plain average. Now throw a GM, who doesn't even see much of most of the players on offer, and it is even more muddled.

 

[Jackets16]

Doesnt the GM
1. Build the staff?
2. Trust the staff?

Saying they have no input in scouting because they're not scouts is like saying they have no input on wins because they're not scoring.

Exactly. They ultimately make the pick as well. Bad GM's hire bad staffs or don't trust their staffs and pick someone else. Good GM's build good staffs and pick who they say (most of the time).

 

[GOilers88]

Kevin Cheveldayoff. He hasn't missed (yet) on a single Jets first rounder. A few good later round players along the way too.

Logan Stanley?

I do agree with you though. They've drafted and developed an incredible team.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Chevy and Hextall come to mind.