If you could take over as GM of any NHL team, whom would you pick?
No two NHL teams’ futures are created the same. Some are set up to contend for years to come. Others find themselves in desperate win-now situations. Some are in scorched-earth rebuilds.
It’s time to play a game. Look around at every team’s setup and consider the timeline, market and talent. You’re the hottest new GM candidate in the NHL. You’re allowed to take over one team. Which would you choose and why?
MATT LARKIN: I was so close to picking the San Jose Sharks but, as an Ottawa-born Torontonian, I can’t bring myself to spend hockey season in a warm climate. I’ll take the New York Islanders job. I’m all-in on Matthew Schaefer having a Hall of Fame career. He’s my guy, the future captain I’ll build around, with up-and comers like Victor Eklund to complement him. I’ll be sure to hold onto Ilya Sorokin as my goalie, too. But I’m not convinced this team is ready to contend. I’ll sell off some veterans, such as Mathew Barzal, to obtain some additional first-round picks. I’ll go backward to go forward in hopes of crafting a higher-ceiling team that can return to its early-1980s glory. And the Tri-State Area is a fun place to live for a city boy like me.
PAUL PIDUTTI: If we can overlook the unwritten rule that the Montreal Canadiens leaders are expected to be bilingual, I’ll take their GM job right away, thanks. The passion and size of the fanbase surely lead to some sleepless nights, but the city, arena, culture, and history give any hockey-mad person the chills. And I haven’t even mentioned the team yet. Kent Hughes has done a masterful job building this franchise up relatively quickly in an era of many scorched Earth rebuilds. A 100-point, Selke-winning captain. A 50-goal sniper. The 2025 Calder winner. The 2026 Calder runner-up. The 2022 No. 1 pick. Two, exciting young goaltending options. A beloved head coach. And perhaps most importantly, a locked-in core under the ‘old’ salary cap’s now discounted pricing. The Habs were my 2030 Stanley Cup pick too, so you’ll have to excuse me, I’m off to sign up for French classes. À plus tard.
STEVEN ELLIS: Sign me up to run the San Jose Sharks. The idea of building a team around Macklin Celebrini has to excite any potential candidate, and that’s just scratching the surface. They’ve got a strong pipeline, they’ve got a good young core, and while goaltending might still be a question mark, it feels like that’s fixable (I still like Askarov). The Sharks have a growing fan base that continues to boost the profile of that program, and it can’t be that difficult to lure talented free agents to California.
SCOTT MAXWELL: You’re all going about this the wrong way. What’s one of the best parts about a job? Security! Knowing you can do your job how you want without pressure from your boss to the point of being fired before seeing it through is a rarity, especially in sports. However, there is one place where that type of security exists: the Winnipeg Jets. Consider how mediocre they’ve been for most of their existence, including the kinds of ups and downs that ownerships with itchier trigger fingers would use to fire their general manager, yet Kevin Cheveldayoff remains in the position. If I’m a GM, I want that kind of patience so that I can build a team from the ground up and see the vision through. Also, when I play franchise mode in the NHL games, I love taking over teams just starting their rebuilds so I can build the team in my own vision, and based on the current trajectory of the Jets, I’ll probably be doing that shortly. Sure, their market makes it hard to attract star talent, but I welcome the challenge.
Cap Summary
Draft Picks
ANTHONY TRUDEAU: Montreal’s Kent Hughes probably has the sweetest setup of any NHL GM, but I don’t want his job. The fun part is over in Montreal, where Hughes has collected every draft home run and value contract he could ever want. All that’s left is to tinker with the near-finished product amid ever-rising expectations. Instead, give me the hockey’s most overdue demolition job: the Los Angeles Kings. Ken Holland (himself a mistake of team president Luc Robitaille) has built a truly confounding roster around a core of old-timers who should be off ring-chasing in a desperate bid to extend the Kings’ streak of first-round exits. There’s not one foundational player in the entire L.A. organization, unless you really like Brandt Clarke or can delude yourself into thinking Quinton Byfield will suddenly be that guy after 350 games of evidence to the contrary. In other words, it’s a clean slate, or it will be, at least, when I’m done with a scorched-earth teardown. As a Flyer fan who watched with envy as Calgary’s Craig Conroy and San Jose’s Mike Grier made inadequate rosters disappear into a sea of draft capital, this should be cathartic.
_____
DAILY FACEOFF NEWSLETTER
Recently by Daily Faceoff
Which Canadian teams will make the 2026-27 Stanley Cup playoffs?
Who will be the first NHL coach fired in 2026-27?
Which early-season NHL overreactions do we believe in most?
Which major pro sports franchise is the saddest right now?
