The best GM, who's hated by his own team's fans?

[Javaman]

I don't think the majority of Canucks fans hate Benning, though. There is, however, a contingent of fans that Brian Burke referred to as the "lunatic fringe" (i.e. HFBoards Canucks) that have an unbridled, almost unhealthy hate for the man. He's made some mistakes, without a doubt, but he's also made some very impressive moves that have positioned the Canucks very well for the future. Even with all that, Bennings detractors have referred to him (quite frequently) as "the worst GM of all time" and spend a significant portion of their lives dedicated to spewing vitriol at the guy (with endless message board arguments, comic strips, petitions, twitter wars, etc.).

The silent majority are on the fence, especially with the more recent upward trend. But, if you ask the "lunatic fringe", his horrifyingly incompetent legacy will be "felt for decades to come" and it's only a matter of time until they have to tear it down and do an "actual rebuild".

This bolded part is just lazy and untrue.

Edit: On second thought, the majority of this post is lazy and untrue.

 

[Hivemind]

George McPhee when we was with Washington. Obviously everyone knows about "that trade" near the very end of his tenure, but don't get lost judging his entire stay by that particular move. While the wheels came off in the final 18ish months of him being at the helm (in part due to ownership & coaching decisions that limited his range, namely ownership picking Adam Oates as coach and then Oates doing all sorts of wonky things with the roster), he had built a perennial contender without saddling the franchise with any crippling contracts, NMCs, or completely raiding the prospect pool. He didn't know how to get them over the finish line, but the the core of the roster that would eventually win the Cup was McPhee players.

 

[TakeTheBody]

If your team isn't in Canada or part of the original six. Your fan base doesn't have enough passion to be considered.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Just curious: Can you please elaborate on the big gaffes and brilliant decisions (that he has made)?

For reference, this is his transaction summary: Jim Benning Era Transaction Summary

All those bad contracts playing in the bottom six, and then the Myers contract is going to be another bad one.

They’ve gotten big contributions from their recent first round picks like Horvat, Virtanen, Boeser, Pettersson and Hughes. The only one not contributing is Juolevi, and then you consider that he picked up a league wide superstar, Pettersson, so I’d say that’s an excellent draft return. The Miller trade is looking really good, so I’d say there’s a lot of really good and a lot of really bad.

 

[GaryU]

Stan Bowman is slowly getting there.

You mean Stan 'The tip's not included in your salary offer' Bowman??

 

[FerrisRox]

Montreal has looked bad for long. Some hate is really deserved there.

For long? They finished first in their division in 2015 and 2017.

 

[DolanPlsGoSabres]

So like, Jason Botterill for sure, right?

He's an amazing GM from other team fan's viewpoints, as he gives away quality assets for cap dumps, takes on full salary for players you want to get rid of, and sells pieces for way less than their actual value because of poor asset management skills.
He also leaves high-risk, high reward forwards available for you in the early 2nd because he wants more safer D-men with those high picks.
Does all of you a favour of not having to go against Jack Eichel in the playoffs.

 

[Ezekial]

Jim Benning

Everything is always his fault and any good player they have is because of the scouts. The JT Miller trade was crucified by their fans because they thought they should be the ones getting a first for "helping Tampa" when in reality they were getting a quality NHL player who's age still aligns with it's current core.