Jason Botterill
This one caught me off guard. Being completely honest, I wouldn't have expected Jason Botterill's name to come up, but here we are.
Botterill was the GM of the Buffalo Sabres from 2017-2020. The Sabres, putting it politely, were in complete shambles in his entire tenure there.
It's not that he was a terrible GM, it's just that their expectations were to improve, and they did not.
Honestly, maybe that makes him a terrible GM.
HIs trades were ... meh ... like Bergevin, but also adding in arguably one of the worst in recent NHL history. The Sabres actually did an okay job drafting while he was there, which could be the reason teams are looking to give him a second chance in the league.
But, I don't think the Jackets should be looking at someone who drafted well for a few years. They've done most of their drafting to pull out of this rebuild. The next step is putting the pieces in place to get to the next level.
Botterill went to Buffalo at a time when they had Jack Eichel, as well as a lot of other good young pieces. He added more young pieces, but couldn't put together a good enough team to even make a playoff push.
The Jackets have a player that I've frequently compared to a young Jack Eichel. I think we can all see where I'm going here.
This kind of hire would really concern me for the Blue Jackets. "Fool me once..."
Let's look at the last name we're seeing churn through the rumor mill. I was against it, but seeing some of these other names, now I'm starting to lean further towards him.