Bill Guerin of the Minnesota Wild, the Colorado Avalanche’s Chris MacFarland and Pat Verbeek of the Anaheim Ducks have been named as the three finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.
Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill had won the three previous awards.
Guerin, 55, made a major splash in December with the acquisition of defenceman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks in a blockbuster trade. Hughes joined summer acquisitions Nico Sturm and Vladimir Tarasenko and was later joined by Nick Foligno, Bobby Brink and Jeff Petry, all picked up at the trade deadline. Guerin also got another major piece of business taken care of in the summer by signing superstar Kirill Kaprizov to an eight-year extension.
MacFarland, 56, joins Guerin as a first-time finalist. In his fourth season with the Avs, MacFarland retained impending free agent Brock Nelson in the summer before making a number of major moves in-season including reacquiring Nazem Kadri and trading for Brett Kulak and Nicolas Roy.
Verbeek, 61, was named GM of the Ducks in 2022 and has built a young nucleus that led the franchise back to the playoffs for the first time since 2018. In the offseason, Verbeek added veterans Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund. During the campaign, he brought aboard John Carlson and Jeffrey Viel.
