Houle: one of the worst GMs in NHL history, so absolutely last on this list. Threw away good and great pieces and dismantled the organization from top to bottom. Left devastation in his wake; when Andre Savard took over and was asked what his priority was, he replied “to get some NHL players.” That single phrase shows better than anything what a disaster Houle was.
Goat: seemed to be a good hockey man, contributed greatly to the strong core pieces that MB inherited, but obviously did not understand how to manage people. Second worst.
Savard: I liked him and thought he did some good things and was underrated. He began the process of righting the ship after Houle, but his body of work is too modest to say much.
Gainey: his career was broken into two parts - Rebuild 1.0, done properly and patiently, but unsuccessfully; and Rebuild 2.0, done via free agent signings and leading to both the Semi-Final run of 2010 and the Gomez disaster. I feel Bob was rather unlucky as GM. Markov got hurt, key patch up acquisitions like Lang suffered career-compromising injuries, Gomez collapsed at age 31, and well-regarded picks like Higgins and Komisarek turned into pumpkins. At the end of the day, though, Rebuild 1.0 failed due to organizational incompetence at player development and a failure to build a winning culture. That’s on him. He also restored the Habs as a relevant, respected NHL organization. That’s also on him.
Bergevin: I like your summary - an ace at the trade table, except for the execrable Drouin trade, and a complete disaster at drafting and development. Was more concerned with rewarding his personal mafia than with organizational excellence. He was gifted a strong hand with the four Ps (Price, PK, Patches, and Pleks) as well as Gally and Markov. Added the 5th P (Petry) but he basically frittered away the strong hand he inherited. His brilliant moves in the summer of 2020 created a team that was built for the playoffs and reached the Finals - an achievement that redeems him from the charge of total mediocrity. On the other hand, the Run of 21 was a one-and-done, the heroic last gasp of an aging core, and we only escaped complete and long-running cap hell because both Weber and Price suffered career-ending injuries. Very, very “lucky” in a perverse way.
Cucumber’s provisional verdict:
BEST
Gainey
CLOSE 2nd:
Bergevin
3rd:
Savard
4th:
Goat
5Th:
Houle, possibly the worst NHL GM of the past four decades other than Mad Mike Milbury.
TOO SOON TO TELL:
HUGO
None of them have excelled. Serge Savard was miles above any of these; none of them are fit to hold his jockstrap, as GM.