Jim Nill, Don Sweeney, and Bill Zito announced as finalists for Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award

The NHL has announced that Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill, Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney, and Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito are the finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year award.

The award is voted on by a panel including all 32 general managers, along with league executives and print & broadcast media, going to the general manager who excelled at their position the most that season. It is the only award not voted on at the end of the regular season, instead waiting until after the start of the Conference Finals before starting the vote.

Jim Nill is in his 10th season at the helm of the Stars, with the team finishing second in the Central Division with a 47-21-14 record and currently in the Western Conference Final after beating both the Minnesota Wild and the Seattle Kraken, although they are down 0-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights at the time of the finalists’ announcement. Nill made several moves to improve his team this season, including signing Mason Marchment and Colin Miller, as well as trading for Nils Lundkvist, Evgenii Dadonov, and Max Domi. It’s Nill’s third time being a finalist for the award, also doing so in 2015-16 and 2019-20.

Don Sweeney is in his seventh season as the GM of the Bruins, with the team setting the NHL record for wins and points in a season with their 65-12-5 record, although they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Panthers after blowing a 3-1 series lead. Sweeney notably brought back David Krejci in the offseason, as well as traded for Pavel Zacha before the season and Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, and Tyler Bertuzzi at the trade deadline. Sweeney has been a finalist once previously in 2018-19 when he won the award.

Bill Zito is in his third year as the Panthers’ GM, with the team barely making the playoffs with a 42-32-8 record before upsetting the Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs to make it to the Eastern Conference Final, where they have a 3-0 series lead on the Carolina Hurricanes at the time of the finalists’ announcement. Zito didn’t make any big signings in the offseason, but his biggest move was the blockbuster trade that brought in Matthew Tkachuk, who had a season that resulted in being a finalist for the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. This is Zito’s second time as a finalist, also getting the honour in 2020-21.