What is your opinion of Craig Button?

[Orfieus]

For me it is hard to explain. Disclaimer, I am a Leaf fan and my experience with Button revolves around the Maple Leafs, so maybe your opinion of his is different.

What I know is he was not the best GM (some would go as far to say terrible GM). Very early on in the season he was a big proponent of trading Nylander (before we really knew just how great this kid is. We all knew he had a lot of potential). He also believes Kapanen isn't a NHL player because he is too inconsistent. He has now said on record it "make sense" for Tavares to sign a 1yr deal in Toronto.

I just want to point these things out. The weird thing is even with all of this I still believe he does a good job on air killing time. He has a lot of stories and a lot of trivia facts about hockey, just take his personal opinions with a grain of salt.

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[A1LeafNation]

Mediocre eye for junior talent. Below Average everything else.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Big nose, bigger mouth

Every now and then he'll have a moment of clarity, but most of the time he's more full of **** than a sewer

 

[Reinhart]

I actually like him. Sure, he is off on a few picks, but who isn't? He also sticks by his guns on certain players even though the rest of the scouting world disagrees. For instance, he thought very low of Virtanen, and though there is a chance still for Virtanen to prove Button wrong, he thus far has proved Button right.

This is also coming from a Flames' fan that thought he wasn't a good GM at all. He gave away Savard (imagine Iginla and Savard together during their prime years! Drool!) for NOTHING, and even tried to trade Iginla for Mike Peca (thank goodness Buffalo turned him down).

I do think he has gotten better with time at evaluating prospects. I always look forward to his lists whenever they are published. Once again, is he perfect? Absolutely not, but he is often quite right. I would be interested to see him become an NHL GM again. I would bet he would be a good choice for a team that is just entering a rebuild. With how much he has scouted and how many other scouts he probably has spoken with, he is probably at the top of the list of GMs with his finger on the pulse of many prospects (some of which he could trade for as well). Plus, he already has GM experience. I think it would be interesting to see how he would do again as a GM in that situation.

Just hopefully not for my team in the future.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Meh.

 

[Zegras Zebra]

I generally respect his analysis on players, and his opinions. However I disagree with how he sets up his top prospects each year as it doesn't really appeal to what fans want to know which is who their favorite team should draft instead of who will be the best at the NHL level. For drafting prospects McKenzie has the best list each year. There also is just something about Button that is kind of annoying, but I'm not sure what it is.

 

[Pastor Of Muppets]

Used to loathe hearing his voice and his opinion...Although,in the last few years,I've come to respect his opinion..(I don't always agree with it)....One reason I do respect him is because ..When he does have an opinion..he takes the time to explain the reasoning behind it..

As to making rash statements without thinking,or backing them up..That goes to TSN's Jeff'O'Neill,who is an out and out Jackass..

 

[SB84]

I respect his opinion. He is a little stubborn on some players but he provides good insight and obviously watches the players he talks about thoroughly. He is very honest and I respect what he has to say. I find that he is right more often on player she doesn't like (Virtanen) than on players he likes.

I like him and I like listening to him but I understand he isn't the best at what he does. Far better than most and isn't afraid to stray from the norm

 

[Brent Burns Beard]

I enjoy his takes but he is a sell out click bait hack.

 

[Zegras Zebra]

Used to loathe hearing his voice and his opinion...Although,in the last few years,I've come to respect his opinion..(I don't always agree with it)....One reason I do respect him is because ..When he does have an opinion..he takes the time to explain the reasoning behind it..

As to making rash statements without thinking,or backing them up..That goes to TSN's Jeff'O'Neill,who is an out and out Jackass..

I personally don't know anyone who likes or respects Jeff O'Neill as a broadcaster. He is even worse than a lot of the guys on Sportsnet and I didn't know that was even possible!

 

[Inflict]

He went from being one of the worst analysts on TV to being pretty decent at it. I still take his opinions with a grain of salt, but he knows more about prospects than 99% of people that post here.

 

[biturbo19]

I like that he sticks to his guns, and isn't afraid to go out on a limb at times. I certainly don't trust him to be right all the time and i often disagree with his opinions on things...but i really like that he puts them out there, tries to explain them.

He often provides a different perspective on things to consider. That's something in what seems to be an increasingly homologous hockey media.

 

[Digital Kid]

He changed the core of the Flames enough that Darryl Sutter was able to tweak it enough to get into the SC Final in 2004.

Had technology been better (Game 6) and refereering being some of the worst in SC Final history (Game 4 - the infamous one where fans littered the ice with pop, beer, popcorn and other assorted garbage after the game ended) then he would have played a key role in turning a terrible team into a SC champion within three years.

His main philosophy is generally "Don't put players in a position to fail" so if you have a 3rd liner, don't expect him to be a 1st liner because he is on the 1st line. Etc.

 

[HandshakeLineRespect]

For me it depends on who's he's on air with. If he's on overdrive his hot takes are a little less ridiculous but I find when he's on leafs lunch he gets carried away. A lot of people are quick to point out things he gets wrong but he gets some stuff right also. I remember he was pretty vocal about Provorov and Werenski being better players than Hanafin and he was pretty bang on with that one.

 

[MrNasty]

Mediocre eye for junior talent. Below Average everything else.

When I look back at all the draft rankings (I keep a database from each year) Button has better success than most mainstream scouting services. his judgement of the top ten is below average but he is good at predicting talent from the mid-first round to the 3rd.

 

[Cotton]

I personally don't know anyone who likes or respects Jeff O'Neill as a broadcaster. He is even worse than a lot of the guys on Sportsnet and I didn't know that was even possible!

Lots of people like him.

 

[izzy]

hes terrible

 

[Orfieus]

Lots of people like him.

I enjoy listening to him, he is very passionate about hockey and the Leafs.

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

He's getting better. He's an ass, but I find good information comes from him more often than the bad. He has a good eye for young guys, in my opinion. Everyone is hit or miss on that, though.

 

[Iapyi]

he seems to be moving towards a more TMZish type of style. i don't watch TMZ cuz i know what it's all about and i don't care for that kind of fluffy crap.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

he teh suck

but for whatever reason, i find it hard to turn the channel when he's on, even tho i usually really want to

 

[tony d]

He has some strong opinions, most I disagree with but I still respect them.

 

[Aerchon]

One of those guys who at his best sounds reasonable but most time comes off as a complete idiot. Extremely rare sounds smart and certainly seems like the old saying "even a broken clock is right twice a day".

Guys like him make me think pretty much anyone can be a nhl GM/analyst.

 

[major major]

Blowhard with an improving track record. I also remember him being very right about Provorov > Hanifin (so far).

 

[BigEezyE22]

Prefer Zipper.