Sutter gets a lot of goodwill for the '04 run and for the Kipper trade, which is understandable given the history of playoff successes for the franchise. But the drafting when Sutter was GM was an absolute black hole of despair. Feaster gets a lot of heat for his tenure, and rightfully so -- but he arguably contributed more to the franchise's long-term health with his 3 years of drafting than Sutter did in his longer tenure with 3 times as many draft picks.
With 20 picks from 2011-2013, notables that Feaster netted us were Monahan, Jankowski, Kulak, Baertschi, Granlund, and Gaudreau. With 60 picks from 2003-2010, Sutter netted us Phaneuf, Backlund, Brodie, Bouma, and Ferland. You could give him credit for Prust and Pardy, though they mostly played their NHL careers elsewhere. Between a combined 16 picks over the 2005 and 2006 drafts, players chosen under Sutter played less than 90 combined NHL games played. That's ugly.
It all comes down to what you value. What you remember, what you've chosen to overlook, what you want to hold grudges over, and so on. Treliving being middle of the road feels about right to me. And Riser being the all-time worst also feels right. But it's all pretty subjective on who people want to rank after Fletcher.
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