Let’s start with the total NHL points accumulated through the draft. To perform this analysis, I added up the cumulative NHL points of all drafted players (excluding goaltenders) by GM. Naturally, one would think that the longest serving GM would accumulate the most NHL points (recruiting the most players increases the odds of accumulating NHL points). That’s mostly true since the New York Islanders’ Garth Snow leads the pack with amassed 2,239 points over 10 years as GM.
After Garth, we have Bryan Murray in second place with 8 years and 2010 points. After Bryan it gets interesting with Greg Sherman in third place with just 6 years as GM and 1563 points. This is interesting because he is ahead of several standout GMs: Dan Maloney-8 yrs-1549 pts / Dean Lombardi-9 yrs-1530 pts / David Poile-10 yrs-1515 pts / Bob Murray-9 yrs-1314 pts.
Why did Greg Sherman do so well? What was his secret? Well, finishing last or close to it helps. He had the #1, #2 and #3 picks in 2009, 2011 and 2013 respectively. Due to the number of top picks in the draft, I’m not inclined to name him the best in this category.
My pick actually goes to No. #2: Bryan Murray. Why? An excellent mid-round pick will do it. Case in point: He selected Erik Karlsson at No. 15 in 2008. Karlsson was clearly the better player after Stamkos was No. 1 and Doughty at no. #2. Sorry Leaf fans, but you could have had Erik Karlsson instead of Luke Schenn.
From an overall performance perspective. Bryan averaged 251 NHL points per draft year. Way ahead of anyone else. Amazing.
Next, let’s look at the Draft Success Rate (defined as the % of players selected to play at least 60 NHL games). In this sense, Joe Nieuwendyk is so far ahead that it is nonsense. Joe has a 56% success rate. Granted, his first-round picks have been duds … but he’s done remarkably well in later rounds.
After Joe, Dean Lombardi is second with a 33.3% success rate. Casting Wayne Simmonds at 61 was great. Darcy Regier is next at 32.6%: Taking Brian Campbell with the 156th pick was pretty impressive.
In fourth place we have Bryan Murray with 31%. Given that Bryan racked up significant points in the NHL throughout his career (as noted in the first part of this article), it’s perhaps no surprise that he also ranks high on the list when it comes to success rate. . Interestingly enough, he is the only GM to make it to the top 4 on both lists.
To summarize part one of this series: Who is the best newsroom general manager in the last 10 years? I choose Bryan Murray. He found a lot of good talent and found it without the luxury of top picks. Unfortunately, he passed away last year and the NHL may have lost the best writing general manager of all time. Stay tuned to find out if he can stand the test of time.