Some of the most fun we’ve had around here since the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down for the Ottawa Senators is with bracket challenges and interactive blog series. That continues now, with the General Manager Bracket Battle. Between drafting, signing, trading, developing, and simply running day to day operations, NHL General Managers have a lot on their plates. Some do a good job, others do a… less than good job. This bracket, which seeds all 32 teams in order of 2019-20 regular season standings (Seattle is placed 16th, right in the middle), provides us with an opportunity to crown the best front office in the National Hockey League today. In the interest of fairness, the intent of this bracket tournament is to evaluate each hockey operations department and general manager without consideration of ownership. For obvious reasons.
Let’s get to the first matchup:
1 – Boston Bruins: Don Sweeney
The Boston Bruins were the 2019-20 Presidents’ Trophy winners for a reason. They’re a machine. From top to bottom, the Bruins can run with just about anyone (except the Tampa Bay Lightning, apparently). The work that Sweeney & Co. has done to keep veteran stars like Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and David Krejci around, while developing young players (e.g. David Pastrnak) around them, is worthy of praise. There’s a reason that the Bruins are basically a postseason fixture.
With that being said, a lot of Boston’s success is attributable to those aforementioned players that have just been in Boston for a while. Players like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, and others were already in place when Don Sweeney took the reins as General Manager. Does the current front office get credit for that? And, what about the misses on the draft board? Imagine if the Bruins had hit on their three consecutive first-round picks in 2015.
The bottom line with Boston: There’s a ton to like, but the record isn’t perfect.
32 – Detroit Red Wings: Steve Yzerman
Steve Yzerman’s reputation as a front office wizard hasn’t manifested itself in the form of early results in Detroit. The Red Wings were really bad in 2019-20 by design, but failed to land the first overall pick and shot at Alexis Lafreniere. The question is whether Yzerman has what it takes to truly build from the ground up in Detroit, without a Steven Stamkos or Victor Hedman already sitting in the system. And, it’s also worth considering how much of Tampa’s success during Yzerman’s tenure is really attributable to Al Murray, their head of scouting. Yzerman gets credit for listening, but that's a factor that can't be ignored.
Even so, and while the Red Wings finished dead last in the NHL by a wide margin, my hunch is that this battle will be closer than the standings would suggest. Yzerman’s track record in Tampa suggests that he’s not afraid to make shrewd moves at key times, and that he’s willing to take his organizations in a modern, progressive direction that leads to success. Whether that means trading a red-hot Cory Conacher for Ottawa’s third-string goaltender in Ben Bishop, or taking a chance on Nikita Kucherov in the second round, or putting his trust in the right player development personnel, Yzerman has hit more than he’s missed during his time as an NHL GM. He may be in charge of a listless-looking Red Wings organization, but you can bet that there are lots of fans out there who would love to have him at the helm of their teams.
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