All successful NHL teams are built through a general manager’s (GM) vision. They must be confident and decisive, constantly making tough decisions for the betterment of their team. Today, the league has never been better positioned, both with the on-ice product and off-ice finances due to the high level of competition built through these GMs. With the 2024-25 season about to start, who are the five best GMs currently in the NHL?
In Consideration
Joe Sakic would have made the top five but was promoted to President of Hockey Operations of the Colorado Avalanche during the 2022 Offseason. Chris Patrick (Washington Capitals), Mike Grier (San Jose Sharks), Craig Conroy (Calgary Flames), Daniel Briere (Philadelphia Flyers), and Chris MacFarland (Avalanche) have all impressed to begin their tenures and could soon join this list.
Kyle Davidson inherited a disastrous roster when hired by the Chicago Blackhawks in the spring of 2022. Since then, he has sold off the aging core for draft capital, amassed one of the best prospect pools in the NHL, and provided the team with long-term financial freedom. While he is only an honorable mention right now, he is likely to earn a spot on this list within the next few seasons.
Following David Poile’s historic tenure with the Nashville Predators, Barry Trotz took over during the 2023 Offseason. Just one year into his reign as GM, he has already impressed. After the Predators exceeded expectations and pushed the Vancouver Canucks to six games in Round 1 of the 2024 Playoffs, he extended Juuse Saros to a team-friendly eight-year extension and landed top free agents in Steven Stamkos, Brady Skjei, and Jonathan Marchessault.
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Trotz also secured Nashville a third first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by trading Yaroslav Askarov, giving the team more flexibility to be aggressive at the 2025 Trade Deadline. Considering goaltenders typically hold low trade value, obtaining a first-round pick for one with only three NHL games is remarkable. While Trotz is on a path that could see him rise to the top within the next season or two, it seems premature to rank him so high after just one season.
Don Waddell consistently built powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes teams, leading them to the playoffs in each of his six seasons as GM, including two runs to the Eastern Conference Final. However, that’s as far as they went. While his contributions to the team’s regular-season success are undeniable, their repeated playoff shortcomings keep him outside the top five. As he begins his first season as the Columbus Blue Jacket’s GM, it will be interesting to see if he can help turn the franchise around.
Honorable Mentions
Kent Hughes took over an aging Montreal Canadiens roster and transformed it into one of the NHL’s most promising young cores. He secured contracts for Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Kaiden Guhle for at least the next six seasons, all for a total cap hit of under $29 million. Additionally, he has assembled an elite prospect pool featuring Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, and Jacob Fowler. If these young players fulfill their potential, the NHL could witness the emergence of another dynasty.
In 995 games as GM, Kevin Cheveldayoff has led the Winnipeg Jets to a 519-381-95 record. However, the team had made it past the first round just twice in his tenure, and once since 2018. There is no denying he has built a strong team on paper, but, like Waddell, the lack of playoff success keeps him outside the top five.
5. Patrik Allvin
Following the Jim Benning era in Vancouver, Patrik Allvin was hired in January of 2022 to clean up the mess. Since then, he has successfully revitalized the franchise, making it one of the most formidable teams in the Western Conference. On the blue line, he acquired Filip Hronek to finally give Quinn Hughes some help, alleviating some responsibilities which led to Hughes winning the 2023-24 James Norris Memorial Trophy.
Allvin also quickly parted ways with Luke Schenn, Ethan Bear, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Although the defense may not appear drastically different on paper, its play improved significantly, reducing the team’s goals allowed from 296 in the 2022-23 season—the eighth-worst in the league—to just 221 in the 2023-24 season, which ranked as the fifth-best.
While some of Allvin’s decisions have raised eyebrows, he has constructed an impressive roster ready to build on last season’s success. They may not be Stanley Cup favorites yet, but his efforts have transformed the Canucks from a struggling team into serious contenders in just two years.
4. Julien BriseBois
Since Steve Yzerman constructed the core of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2020 and 2021, Julien BriseBois has not received the credit he deserves. However, people tend to forget Yzerman was unable to get the Bolts over the hump while for BriseBois, that was not the case.
Hired in 2019, BriseBois made key trade deadline additions of Blake Coleman, Barlacy Goodrow, David Savard, and others that led the Lightning to their back-to-back Stanley Cup victories. While he caught some flack from fans for not caving into Steven Stamkos’ contract demands this past offseason, he is a two-time Stanley Cup champion as a GM, proving he deserves a spot on this list.
3. Jim Nill
Season after season, the Dallas Stars are Stanley Cup contenders due to Jim Nill’s excellence. He has won the 2022-23 and 2023-24 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award and led the team to the playoffs in five of the past six seasons, including Western Conference Final appearances in each of the past two.
Nill’s best work was at the 2017 Draft when he landed Miro Heiskanen, Jake Oettinger, and Jason Robertson with Dallas’ first three picks. As well, he drafted Mavrik Bourque with the 30th overall pick in the 2020 Draft and Wyatt Johnston and Logan Stankoven with the 23rd and 47th overall picks in the 2021 Draft, respectively. While Dallas may not have the hardware to show for it, Nill’s decisions have given the Stars a chance at winning a Stanley Cup year in and year out.
2. Kelly McCrimmon
Kelly McCrimmon was hired by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019 and has been among the most aggressive GMs in NHL history. He will do whatever it takes to win, even cutting ties with respected veterans like Marc-Andre Fleury, Jonathan Marchessault, Nate Schmidt, Reilly Smith, and many others. As a result, he brought Vegas a Stanley Cup in 2023.
While McCrimmon has his fair share of poor draft selections, signings, and trades, he has brought much more good than bad. Some of his best moves include the trade acquisitions of Chandler Stephenson, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Adin Hill, and Ivan Barbashev, as well as when he received a third-round pick for Ryan Reaves, a third-round pick for Schmidt, and a second-round pick for Nikita Gusev. With constant roster turnover, it is hard to project Vegas’ future, but if the past is any inclination of the future, they will remain contenders for a while.
1. Bill Zito
Bill Zito is the best GM in the NHL, and it’s not just because the Florida Panthers are the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Before his hiring, the Panthers had made the playoffs only twice in the eight seasons prior and three times in the previous 19 seasons, which hurt their ability to draw fans. However, in his four seasons as GM, the team has reached the playoffs each season, including consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, leading to a franchise-record average attendance of 18,632 fans per game.
Zito was aggressive with his decisions on the ice, and they paid off. After the Panthers won the 2022 President’s Trophy under interim head coach Andrew Brunette, they were eliminated in Round 2 of the playoffs. Longtime Panther and franchise icon Jonathan Huberdeau had just completed a record-setting season with 30 goals and 115 points, leading many to believe the team should stick with the same core and expect improvement with Brunette at the helm for a full season. However, Zito had different plans.
Zito let Brunette walk and brought in former Jets head coach, Paul Maurice, who had failed to take Winnipeg to the playoffs that season. Then, Zito traded Huberdeau and promising defenseman Mackenzie Weegar following his eight-goal, 44-point campaign to the Flames for Matthew Tkachuk, a 24-year-old winger who had surpassed the point-per-game threshold just once in his career.
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The hockey world largely believed that Florida lost the trade, but Zito was unfazed. He had claimed Gustav Forsling off waivers, acquired Brandon Montour and Sam Reinhart from the Buffalo Sabres, and brought in Sam Bennett from the Flames. Additionally, he signed Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to team-friendly contracts in free agency. He was on fire, assembling one of the best NHL rosters in modern history, which dominated its competition on the way to winning a Stanley Cup.
When the Panthers won the 2024 Stanley Cup, just three players from the 2019-20 roster Zito inherited had remained (Alexander Barkov, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Aaron Ekblad), showing this was entirely his team.
Although many Panthers players left Florida during the 2024 offseason due to their peak value, Zito managed to bring back Reinhart with a team-friendly eight-year, $69 million contract. He also signed Schmidt and Adam Boqvist to contracts under $1 million, finding excellent value to solidify the defensive core. Additionally, he extended Anton “Mini Alexander Barkov” Lundell with an impressive six-year, $30 million deal through his age-28 season.
While NHL teams often regress after winning a Stanley Cup, that shouldn’t be the case for Florida, as Zito has established a sustainable, young core that should remain competitive in the foreseeable future.
