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Washington Capitals: Brian MacLellan ranked as top 10 NHL GM

By Dave Stevenson |
Jun 24, 2016; Buffalo, NY, USA; Lucas Johansen poses for a photo after being selected as the number twenty-eight overall draft pick by the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft at the First Niagra Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 24, 2016; Buffalo, NY, USA; Lucas Johansen poses for a photo after being selected as the number twenty-eight overall draft pick by the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft at the First Niagra Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan has done a very good job since taking over. But where does he rank relative to his peers? 

The Washington Capitals owe a lot of their recent success to general manager Brian MacLellan. He took over for George McPhee after serving under him for years. While his hiring wasn’t overly popular at the time, MacLellan has done a lot of great things in Washington. He was instrumental in hiring Barry Trotz as head coach. MacLellan helped turn the 2013-14 Caps into a playoff team.

Recently, the fine folks at Hockey Graphs, an analytics website, determined how good each NHL general manager is. They calculated how good each has been using a variety of factors. You can read up on the methodology of their rankings here.

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He gets a rating of 3.2 (with five being the highest). MacLellan’s strengths, according to Hockey Graphs, are UFAs. His weaknesses? NCAA free agents and entry level contracts. According to them, MacLellan ranks as the 10th best general manager in the NHL.

MacLellan has done well to improve the Capitals since taking over in 2014, building out the depth of the team with smart signings and trades for Justin Williams, T.J. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk, and bringing on Barry Trotz as coach. His all-in trades in past seasons have proven ineffective, however, and the Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen contracts won’t age well, making it imperative for this team to win a Cup ASAP.

While this is some good analysis, I respectfully disagree with a few minor things. First of all, trading for Tim Gleason, Curtis Glencross and Mike Weber can’t be considered “all-in trades”. Yes, they were each terrible, but they were not trades made to get the missing piece of the puzzle. The Shattenkirk trade is a terrific example of an “all-in trade”. MacLellan deserves criticism for acquiring Gleason, Glencross and Weber instead of better players, but not because they were ineffective all-in trades.

Secondly, the Orpik contract is awful. There’s no defending it at all, especially when you consider Anton Stralman was available. However, the Niskanen contract, though expensive, is worth it. In my opinion, it’s acceptable to pay a premium in free agency if you get “your guy”. Niskanen was “their guy”. The Washington Capitals needed a top pairing defenseman and Nisky has definitely been one. MacLellan deserves credit for the signing because he did what he needed to get what the Caps desired.

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In context, his weaknesses are easy to understand. It’s hard to attract NCAA free agents when they know there’s not a very easy path to the NHL. Generally, those guys want to sign with an organization that will give them a good shot at making the NHL as quickly as possible. The Caps aren’t one of those teams. Still, the Hershey Bears have been very competitive with MacLellan in charge of the Capitals, so he deserves some credit for this.

While GMBM might not be an elite general manager, he’s at worst a very good one. The Washington Capitals are very lucky to have him. While the Caps might have a very uncertain future after this year, with MacLellan at the helm, they’re in good hands.

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