Biggest GM Dumbass At The Moment...

[Chief Rum]

Okay, who is it? We have some prime candidates.

Bobby Clarke, Flyers-- makes the dumbass move for Hackett instead of getting a real goalie. Has been a regular candidate for this ward for several seasons now.

Bryan Murray, Ducks-- brilliant up until the past few days, and the builder of not one, but two Stanley Cup finalists...and yet never has Adam Sandler's line "Talk about your alltime backfires" from Happy Gilmore applied more than it does here...this team was stripped faster than you could say "Florida Marlins".

Craig Armstrong, Stars-- never a good thing when you spend a whole gob of cash, but fail to even get as far as you did the previous season. Now Hatcher is gone, and the Stars are stuck with Turgeon, and a group of players of whom Armstrong is openly questioning their character.

Glen Sather, Rangers-- Sather hasn't really done anything mind-bogglingly stupid in recent days, although it's insanely megalomaniacal that he would truly believe he himself was the best coaching candidate for his underachieving squad. He gets on this list for having as much money as the Yankees, but spending it like George Steinbrenner in the 80s and early 90s. How can so much money be spent on so little...consistently, year after year? It's amazing.

Pat Quinn, Maple Leafs-- Quinn has done a fine job of building up his team in his time with the Leafs, but Sean has it right--it's an incredibly dumbass thing to be fishing or hunting or whatever right now, during one of the most amazing hockey offseasons ever. For that alone, he gets a spot on this poll.

So who's the biggest Dumbass, right now?

CR

[Fidatelo]

no "dumbass GM" poll should ever leave out Mike Milbury...

[sachmo71]

Guess who I voted for? :D

[tucker342]

Glen Sather easily, no one has made dumber moves than he has while with the Rangers.

[ISiddiqui]

no "dumbass GM" poll should ever leave out Mike Milbury...

Yes... the poll in incomplete :D.

Sather got my vote, though :D.

[condors]

i voted for clarke but that is only because i heard him tell me how they just got a stanley cup caliber goalie

[oykib]

He gets on this list for having as much money as the Yankees, but spending it like George Steinbrenner in the 80s and early 90s. How can so much money be spent on so little...consistently, year after year? It's amazing.

That's a misconception. The Yankees didn't have a tremendous payroll advantage in the 80s and early 90s. Steinbrenner just became notorius because of the Dave Winfield contract. He did make some poor buys in the 80s though ( Jack Clark, Ed whitson, et al ).

But the Yankees were very successful in the 80s. Had there been a wildcard, they would've made the playoffs two or three more years in that decade.

But you are totally right about Glen Sather and Garden management in general. I can't think of a good move that Sather has made.

[bbor]

How could Quinn have only one(my) vote???

[Chief Rum]

Looks like Murray has the slight lead. Who will win it? I'll bump it for the rest of the weekend and announce the winner on Monday. :)

CR

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by bbor
How could Quinn have only one(my) vote??? Probably for two reasons:

1.) He's actually been pretty successful as a GM. As much heat as the Leafs get for missing out on big-name FAs, they've arguably had more success at it than any team out there. Joseph (who was a Dryden signing), Mogilny, and Roberts were all home runs. Quinn took a lot of heat for signing Belfour, but he was incredible. Even Corson had his moments. As trades go, he's been hit and miss, but he did steal Darcy Tucker, Nolan could still pay off bigtime, and the decision to cut bait on Lindros looks brilliant in hindsight.

2.) If you don't like those reasons... well, technically he isn't the GM anymore.

[BillyMadison]

Scott Layden... Hands down.

[thealmighty]

"Craig Armstrong, Stars-- never a good thing when you spend a whole gob of cash, but fail to even get as far as you did the previous season."

I know I am old and my brain is going, but I thought the Stars MISSED THE PLAYOFFS entirely in 01-02, so how can they not have gotten as far as that this past year?

Check your facts.

[thealmighty]

dola... and take Armstrong off the list.

As for Hatcher, they offered him 5 years at more money than he got from Detroit before they signed Guerin. When he declined, then they used the money he turned down for Guerin. Now, there is no money left and with no union deal next year, no more stupid long term deals.

[Chief Rum]

Originally posted by thealmighty
dola... and take Armstrong off the list.

As for Hatcher, they offered him 5 years at more money than he got from Detroit before they signed Guerin. When he declined, then they used the money he turned down for Guerin. Now, there is no money left and with no union deal next year, no more stupid long term deals.

My, my, ain't we touchy?

Sorry to get you riled up, fanboy.

Yeah, I screwed up on the Stars' playoff thing. I was used to them always getting there, and I typed that out without thinking.

The original point stands, though--the Stars spent a lot of money and basically didn't do crap with it. Some of the accountability for this past season has to be left at Armstrong's door, don't you think? And besides that, regardless of the reasons Hatcher left, he still left, and that isn't a good thing. And you guys still have Turgeon an dhis contract, which also isn't a good thing. And your GM openly questioned the character of his own players--that is definitely not a good thing.

Armstrong isn't a strong selection for this poll. I mostly tossed him and Quinn in there to fill it out, and because some reasonable idiocy could be attached to them in recent days--the real targets were Murray, Clark and Sather, who, surprise, surprise, are getting most of the votes.

So if you want Armstrong out of the poll, start your own damn poll. :)

Also, be happy for what you do have, since I could bag on Armstrong all day, but he still has a pretty damn good team. I'm a Ducks fan, for crying out loud!

CR