The nominees for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year award, voted on by all 32 NHL GMs as well as some NHL executives at the end of the second round, were announced during the NHL Awards on Tuesday night.
All three of the finalists were executives among the four teams that made it to the Conference Finals this season, including Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Drury of the New York Rangers, and Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche.
BriseBois has been the general manager of the Lightning since 2010 and is looking for a third-straight Stanley Cup win after leading the team to back-to-back wins in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
He is up against fellow nominee Joe Sakic, who is looking to lead the Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup since 2001 — when Sakic was captain of the team as a player.
Drury was promoted to Rangers general manager in May 2021 after the organization fired John Davidson and Jeff Gorton. After missing the playoffs in 2021, the Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference Final this season and Gerard Gallant, the team’s head coach, was awarded the Jack Adams Award.
The Jim Gregory award was first presented in 2010 to Phoenix Coyotes GM Don Maloney, but was renamed during the 2019-20 season to honour the longtime NHL executive.
Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello won the award last season, becoming the first two-time winner of the award after also winning in 2019-20.
The winner will be announced midway through the NHL Draft on July 7.