Worst GM of All Time: Jay Feaster or Mike Milbury?

Mike Milbury looking clueless as ever as the Islanders' GM.

Lately I have been giving Jay Feaster a hard time, and deservingly so.  I have already emphatically mentioned not once, but twice that he needs to be fired.  The first time I said "Jay Feaster will always be in the shadows of Mike Milbury when the list of the worst GMs in NHL history is brought up."  Well since trading Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester away in the past week and getting pretty much nothing in return it is time to look things over and see if he possibly could be worse than Milbury. We will take a look at some of the NHL's worst transactions and make a determination.

Before we jump in let me explain the Jay Bouwmeester trade.  I already discussed the Iginla trade and how little return they received for him, but last night Feaster sent Bouwmeester to St. Louis for almost nothing.  The Blues gave up a conditional 1st round pick and 2 nearly unheard of prospects for the veteran defenseman.  Mark Cundari and Reto Berra are their names if you feel like looking up their subpar statistics. I was all for a Calgary fire sale and I thought Iginla and Bouwmeester needed to be part of it.  But come on Feaster bargain at least a little to get someone who can turn your team around.  Vladimir Sobotka, the Blues 4th line center is better than every single center the Flames are sending out each night, go after him or a prospect who has at least a little bit of hype behind him.

Now for the Milbury portion of the night.  I am going to borrow a lot from an article I previously read and comparing it to what I researched on Jay Feaster.  I read this article a while ago and it made me laugh, made me cry, and made me realize just how awful of a GM and all around human being Mike Milbury is.  The intro paragraph says it all, "Many might remember Mike Milbury as the hockey player who jumped into the MSG stands and beat a fan with his own shoe. Others might remember Milbury for his many controversies on and off the ice, but New York Islanders fans are imprinted with other not-so-fond memories of their former GM and coach."

So the worst moves of all time by an NHL GM, let's do this starting with the kinda bad moves and approach the disgustingly terrible moves: (Milbury in blue) (Feaster in red)

• Islanders traded Chris Osgood and a 3rd round pick to St. Louis for a 2nd round pick and Justin Papineau.
• Feaster traded Rene Bourque and a 2nd round pick for Mike Cammalleri and Karri Ramo.
• Feaster signs Hudler for 4 years at $16 million and Wideman to 5 years at $26.25 million and expected Calgary to make playoffs in 2013.  He also resigned Cory Sarich for 2 more years for $4 million.
• Calgary traded away Iginla and Bouwmeester for 2 late first round picks and low rated prospects.
• Milbury drafted Rick DiPietro 1st overall in 2000.
• Feaster signs Vincent Lecavalier to an 11 year, $85 million dollar contract to stay with Tampa.  He will be 39 when the contract expires and will still be a $7.72 million dollar cap hit.
• Feaster drafter nobody of worth in 2003, which is widely considered the most talent rich draft in NHL history.  Really in his entire tenure with both Calgary and Tampa he has yet to draft a single All Star.
• Mike Milbury traded youngsters (at the time) Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi, and a 3rd round pick (who ended up being Jarkko Ruutu) for a past his prime Trevor Linden.
• Milbury Traded Zdeno Chara and the 2nd overall pick (who ended up being Jason Spezza) for Alexei Yashin.
• Milbury promptly resigned Yashin for 10 years at $87 million dollars. To put this one in perspective, Sidney Crosby just resigned for 8 years at the same salary that Yashin received in this contract.
• The Ryan O'Reilly offer sheet: this is probably the dumbest thing a GM possibly could have done but Jay Feaster can thank the Colorado Avalanche from saving him from potentially making this #1 on my list.
• Milbury traded Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen to Florida for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish.  This deal speaks for itself, 2 of the games top players for 2 guys who barely saw the NHL ice.

It is very apparent that both these GMs have done stupid things in their careers.  While Feaster may have more mistakes as GM, the magnitude of Mike Milbury's mistakes let him retain his top spot as worst GM in NHL history.  Also, I do have to say for as much as I dislike Jay Feaster as a GM, he seems like a good guy when he is interviewed or speaking publicly.  I cringe every time I see Milbury on a CBC or NBC broadcast.  Who are you to comment on a hockey game?  Clearly Milbury is clueless when it comes to hockey, and was a dirty player when he was still skating in the NHL.  Feaster is one terrible move away from jumping over Milbury for the worst spot, however.  So Calgary, please fire him before this happens.

Celebrate away Jay Feaster, you aren't
the worst GM of all time........yet.

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