BY MIKE RIFKIN
The next week or so is going to be hectic in the NHL. The draft is this Friday and Saturday and July first is the beginning of free agency. Here are five General Managers who need to be active and have an effective offseason otherwise they could find themselves unemployed soon.
- KEVYN ADAMS – SABRES – The Sabres have the longest current playoff drought in the league at 14 years. A few seasons ago things looked bright in Buffalo as they missed the playoffs by a single point. Last season the team regressed and that has fans very steamed. The Sabres hired Jarmo Kekalainen to be a senior advisor to the club. If Adams has a subpar offseason and it shows on the ice, Kekalainen might take over before the trade deadline.
- CHRIS DRURY – RANGERS – How many coaches can one GM get to pick? Mike Sullivan is the fourth coach in the Chris Drury era, and his hiring means the Rangers mean they want to win soon. The Rangers were the biggest disappointment in the league last year, after being two wins shy of reaching the Stanley Cup Final and winning the President’s Trophy. Drury has already started the retool with the trade of Chris Kreider, but he has to be able to right the wrongs of last season.
- KYLE DUBAS – PENGUINS : Kyle Dubas takes a lot of heat, but he is in a very tough spot. He’s inherited a tough job of maintaining the Penguins wanting to win while Sidney Crosby is still one of the best players on the planet and with not a ton of resources. Well the second part of that changes this summer, as the Penguins have almost 23 million dollars in cap space and six picks in the top 100 including two in the first round, and they have 18 picks in the first three rounds over the next three drafts. With Penguins ownership up in the air, Dubas has to show that he can balance the want to be competitive while also building for the future.
- KYLE DAVIDSON – BLACKHAWKS – The Blackhawks, unlike the Penguins, recognized when it was time to tear it down. They’re in the midst of a rebuild and this is a critical time for them. The Hawks have already made some changes adding Andre Burakovsky to generate more offense, but with 23 million in cap space and with nine picks in the first two rounds of the next two drafts, can Kyle Davidson add some more impactful players to put around Connor Bedard.
- STAN BOWMAN – OILERS – I know what you’re thinking, how can the guy in charge of the two time defending Western Conference Champs be under pressure? Well, the answer is quite simple. The best player in the world has made it clear he needs to see some change before he signs an extension and when Connor McDavid speaks Stan Bowman better have been listening. Now the Oilers don’t have the cap space nor the draft capital, so Bowman is going to have to be creative on how to change things. But at the end of the day if he is able to keep McDavid it’s a successful offseason.
Honorable Mentions: Steve Yzerman (DET), Pat Verbeek (ANA), Patrick Allvin (VAN)
The Sports Insanity Network 