Patrik Allvin of the Vancouver Canucks, Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars and Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers are the finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.
The award has been presented annually since 2009-10 to the general manager who best excelled at his role during the regular season. It is voted on by the League's general managers and a panel of NHL executives and print and broadcast media after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Allvin, in his third season with the Canucks, helped them finish first in the Pacific Division (50-23-9) and win a division title for the first time since 2013. Vancouver, in its first full season under coach Rick Tocchet, who was hired on Jan. 22, 2023, improved by 12 wins and 26 points from last season to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Tocchet was named winner of the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year on Wednesday, two days after Vancouver lost to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the second round.
Vancouver signed defensemen Carson Soucy and Ian Cole as well as forwards Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter prior to the season. Each played on the penalty kill, which improved to tied for 17th (79.1 percent) after ranking last in 2022-23 (71.6 percent), and helped the Canucks finish tied for fifth in goals against per game (2.70) after finishing 25th in 2022-23 (3.61). Vancouver acquired forward Sam Lafferty from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fifth-round draft pick on Oct. 8; defenseman Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames on Nov. 30 for two draft picks; and forward Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames on Jan. 31 for forward Andrei Kuzmenko, defenseman prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo and two draft picks. The Canucks also signed Elias Pettersson to an eight-year contract on March 2; he could have become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Allvin, 49, a first-time finalist, would be the first Canucks GM to win the award since Mike Gillis in 2010-11.
"I'm very lucky," Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "I got a little bit of a runway with knowing (team president) Jim (Rutherford) and Patrik (with the Pittsburgh Penguiins) with the personalities, how we mesh. Even the way Patrik acts with our other coaches, it's a tight group. He's around enough to be around. He's not in our faces and he loves the feedback, even feedback that he doesn't want to hear, and he takes it very well. Sometimes he doesn't -- no (laughs) -- but I just like the connection.
"I think you have to be connected to your GM and there's going to be some bumpy days and stuff, but I think the communication is outstanding. The year and a half I've been here, you're going to go through issues here and there, but I think the communication has been awesome. Probably the best I've ever had as a head coach. Definitely."
