There seems to be a lot of recency bias involved in deciding whether a GM's tenure has been good or not.
There has been a lot of hand-wringing in Ottawa lately over GM Bryan Murray's tenure. He did a lot to reinvigorate a bare prospect cupboard, but now nearly everything from that overhaul is at the make-or-break point. The team has insisted on promoting grit over skill recently. We've had at least three seasons in a row in which the blue line was the Senators' biggest weakness and he did nothing to address it through trade or free agency.