NHL GMs Feeling the Most Heat Heading into 2012-13

There's a lot of scrutiny for all general managers.

If you are an NHL general manager, you are responsible for finding the right personnel to fill your team's roster and help make the team stronger than the year before.

In most cases, it's about making progress and improving year to year. In certain cases, it's about winning championships now because it is demanded by fans and ownerships.

One of those teams may be the New York Rangers. After finishing first in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, they were bounced out of the playoffs by the New Jersey Devils. The pressure was on New York general manager Glen Sather to make the team better and he added Rick Nash in a long-discussed trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets (source: New York Times).

That move may take the pressure off of Sather and put it squarely on the shoulders of head coach John Tortorella, who now appears to have a roster fully capable of winning the Stanley Cup.

Here's a look at six general managers under the most pressure heading into the 2012-13 season.

Stan Bowman, Chicago Blackhawks

Why have the Chicago Blackhawks been bounced from the playoffs in the first round for two consecutive seasons?

Chicago general manager Stan Bowman is charged with figuring out the answer and doing something about it in the 2012-13 season. The natives are getting restless.

The memorable Stanley Cup run in 2010 is now a part of history. Salary-cap issues forced Bowman to start dismantling the champions shortly after their memorable victory party and the team barely made the playoffs in 2011 and were just a tad more secure last season.

The Hawks have issues in goal where Corey Crawford is decent but not stellar. The Hawks need more goal-scoring and they also need a more concerted effort from Patrick Kane, who often seems more interested in having a good time off the ice than he is in making big plays on the ice.

Bowman made a late run at Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in free agency, but the Blackhawks were never really in the game. He must give head coach Joel Quenneville an improved roster (source: Chicago Sun-Times) or there could be long-term ramifications at the end of the 2012-13 season.

Jay Feaster, Calgary Flames

Many NHL observers would say Jay Feaster is in the worst position any general manager could find himself.

If you look at the Flames' record the last three seasons, they have been a winning team each of those years but they have failed to make the playoffs.

They are not terrible, but they are not good enough to make the postseason tournament. If they were terrible, they would have a chance at the No. 1 or No. 2 pick in the NHL draft. They are not that bad so they haven't had a chance to add superior physical talent like the Edmonton Oilers have for four straight years.

Feaster is under pressure to either completely rebuild or improve the team. He has chosen the latter route and it seems the moves he has made have not really helped the team all that much. Bringing in a slick passer and sharp offensive player like Jiri Hudler (source: CBC.ca) is a solid move, but it's not enough to change Calgary's overall outlook.

Feaster will need to do much more if he is going to turn this team around.

Brian Burke, Toronto Maple Leafs

Even under the best of circumstances, there's incredible pressure when you are the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

These are hardly the best of circumstances. The Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967 and they haven't made the playoffs during the last seven seasons. Last year was perhaps the most frustrating of those seasons because the Leafs were on track to make the playoffs before a disastrous collapse in February and March.

The Leafs still need to address their goaltending situation, which was awful last year. They may be able to acquire Roberto Luongo from Vancouver and, while he has had problems, he would probably strengthen that position for the Leafs.

Burke needs to put a tougher product on the ice. Not only from a physical point of view, but from an emotional perspective as well.

Toronto seems to fold in on itself when it hits tough times, so finding players who are more resilient would help them emerge from a couple of losses with more determination instead of that "woe is me" feeling.

Paul Holmgren, Philadelphia Flyers

Paul Holmgren has been quite active in the 2012 offseason, but not all of the moves have worked out. The biggest move was signing Nashville defenseman Shea Weber to a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet, but the Predators upset his plans when they matched the offer (source: TSN.ca).

The Flyers are a strong team that would like to be the top dog in the Eastern Conference. However, it appears that they have made no progress in their attempt to run down the New York Rangers and they will probably have difficulties with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.

The Flyers have issues on defense. There is no way of knowing if Chris Pronger will be able to return (source: Philly.com) from concussion-related issues, while goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is far from consistent.

Bringing in Luke Schenn from Toronto may help, but they gave up forward James van Riemsdyk to get the defenseman.

The Flyers need to bring in additional defensive help.

George McPhee, Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals have been looked at Stanley Cup contenders for several seasons, thanks primarily to the explosive presence of Alex Ovechkin.

While the Russian Rocket appeared to be on pace to join the greats of the game when he scored 50 or more goals in four of his first five seasons,  he has slowed down significantly each of the last two seasons.

The Capitals have been trying to figure out what kind of team they have the last two-plus seasons. When their all-out offensive style failed, former head coach Bruce Boudreau tried to get the team to play a more defensive style. When he failed, Dale Hunter came in and got a bit more cooperation.

The Capitals won a first-round playoff series and pushed the New York Rangers to seven games in the second round. However, Hunter quit at the end of the postseason and Adam Oates takes over as head coach.

The Hall of Famer made his bones as an explosive offensive player. Will the Caps return to that way of playing the game or will they try to remain on their defensive path?

General manager George McPhee has his work cut out for him because the identity of his team is very much up in the air.

Doug Wilson, San Jose Sharks

Tick, tick, tick.

The clock is ticking on the San Jose Sharks. They have been one of the NHL's better teams and they have had their opportunities to establish their dominance in the Western Conference. The Sharks have come close, but they have not succeeded on those chances.

How much longer does Doug Wilson's team have to become a Stanley Cup champion or even remain a solid Western Conference contender?

A year, maybe two? Wilson needs to bring in players to have the right chemistry to light a fire and turn potential into production.

The Sharks clearly have plenty of talent with Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture, but the heat is on to produce a championship-level effort. Wilson needs to fine tune this unit and get the team to produce in the playoffs.