(New York) Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars, Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins, and Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers are finalists for the Jim Gregory Award, which is given annually to General Manager of the Year in the NHL, the league announced Wednesday.
This award has been given annually since 2009-10 to the general manager who most distinguished himself in his role during the regular season. The winner is chosen following a vote of general managers, a panel of NHL executives, and press and television reporters after the second round of the Cup playoffs. Stanley.
The winner will be announced during the draft session which will take place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 28.
Nill, in his 10th season with the Stars, helped the team finish second in the Central Division this season (47-21-14). He notably hired Peter DeBoer as head coach on June 21 and signed contracts before the start of the season with two pillars of his training: goalkeeper Jake Oettinger (three years and 12 million US dollars) and forward Jason Robertson. (four years and 31 million).
Meanwhile, Sweeney, in his eighth season at the helm of the Bruins, assembled a team that set NHL records for wins (65) and points (135) in a season. Among other things, he hired head coach Jim Montgomery on July 1, in addition to signing forwards Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci before the start of the season.
Sweeney won the award in 2018-19 and could become the second general manager to win the trophy for a second time, after Lou Lamoriello (2019-20, 2020-21).
As for Zito, in his third season in charge of the Panthers, he helped the team reach the conference final for the first time since 1996.
He hired Paul Maurice as head coach on June 22, and completed the July 22 mega-deal allowing the Panthers to trade forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames for forward Matthew Tkachuk .
Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche earned the honor last year.
