Top Five General Managers in the NHL: But Who's the Best?

Having gone through numerous debates with friends and foes about who's the best hockey player—Sid the Kid or Alexander the Gr8—I decided to kick the debate up another notch...who is the best manager to attract and retain the stars in their franchises?

We will let you, the hockey fans, vote on this hot topic.

Here are five candidates who are looked upon as the cream of the crop:

Ken Holland, Detroit Red Wings:  Holland is a magician at signing and re-signing his players for very minimal contracts in effort to win the ultimate prize: the Stanley Cup. It has worked four times in last 13 hockey seasons, excluding lockout year. Marian Hossa signed for less to fit under the "no more than Lidstrom" rule for a chance at the Cup. Henrik Zetterberg signs for $6.0 million, Todd Bertuzzi for $1.9 million, Tomas Holmstrom for $1.875 million, AND newly acquired Mike Modano for $1.25 million. He pays players less for more silverware. Good winning combination.

Doug Wilson, San Jose Sharks: Wilson is an intelligent man who has made nearly all the right decisions when it comes to trades and major signings. Examples include Joe Thornton via trade from Boston, Dany Heatley via trade from Ottawa, Dan Boyle from Tampa Bay, Vesa Toskala for a first round pick, and adding Manny Malhotra from professional tryout last season. Although the Sharks have poor recent playoff performances, they reached the Conference Finals in 2010. Doug recently signed Chicago RFA Niklas Hjalmarsson to a $3.5 million, four-year contract, forcing Stan Bowman's Blackhawks to match and say goodbye to starting goaltender Antti Niemi following his deserving $2.75 million arbitration award. Dougy is slick for sure, but is Dougy "the one?"

Brian Burke, Toronto Maple Leafs: Burke is an outspoken, big lover for cameras and microphones, the media folk love Burkie. He joined a lousy Toronto franchise in 2008, and he has revived the mad hockey town back on its toes. Burkie is known for big moves, such as adding Niedermayer, trading for Pronger, letting Penner go on offersheet in his Duck era, leaving Sundin off the team, adding Komisarek, Beauchemin, Kessel, Gustavsson, Gigguere, Phaneuf, Versteeg on the new-look Maple Leafs team. He is popular, is he "great?"

George McPhee, Washington Capitals: McPhee has been a fortunate man to draft and lean on Ovie as his star player and centre of attention, but George has to be given lots of credit for assembling a team that ran away from the rest in the league in the standings last year. He found Mike Green, Alexander Semin, Niklas Backstrom—selected one spot before Phil Kessel, Fleischmann, Fehr, Laich, Varlamov, etc. McPhee, much like Doug Wilson, is trying best to crack the spell and do some major damage in the postseason soon. Maybe he will resemble "great" in the future?

Darcy Regier, Buffalo Sabres: Regier is a man with poise to draft the "best available player" in the NHL Entry drafts annually. If there is a hockey dictionary definition for "clutch," this guy should appear in that description. Regier manages a team in a small NHL market that is often confined by the ownership to pay attention to the self-proposed salary cap. However, Regier's team has done exceptionally well by NHL Eastern Conference standards. On April 9, 2007 issue of ESPN the magazine, Regier's franchise was ranked first in 122 major professional franchises in North America. This team is exciting, young, and oozes with skill. Tyler Myers is a bright young stud in the making, winning the Calder Trophy for top rookie in the NHL in June 2010. Is Darcy Regier "the best," considering the circumstances?

Thank you for reading. We would appreciate your input. Vote now!

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