Three Western Conference team architects are finalists for the NHL's Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. Who has done the best job of developing a Stanley Cup front-runner?
Being an NHL GM isn't for the faint of heart.
You've got to not only put together a team that makes the playoffs year in and year out, but you need to make improvements annually and try to win the Stanley Cup.
The three finalists for this year's Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award work for Western Conference teams still in the hunt to win a Cup this season.
A panel of GMs, executives and media submit their ballots for the award at the end of the first round of the playoffs.
For the first time since 2022, the award won't be won by the Dallas Stars' Jim Nill, whose three straight GM-of-the-year honors make him the most accomplished GM in the award's relatively short history. Icon Lou Lamoriello has won the award twice, while no other GM has won it more than once in the award's 16 seasons.
Here's how I would rank this year's Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award finalists.
3. Pat Verbeek, Anaheim Ducks
Verbeek has been the Ducks' GM since 2022, but this is the first year Anaheim has made the playoffs in his tenure.
Of course, the Ducks took a strong step forward in the post-season, beating the heavily favored Edmonton Oilers in Round 1 before their current second-round battle against the Vegas Golden Knights.
But one of the reasons Verbeek is worthy of consideration for the Jim Gregory Award is that he's set his team up to be serious Cup contenders for the short and long term.
Verbeek has had solid drafts in his time as Ducks GM, drafting star center Leo Carlsson, defenseman Pavel Mintyukov and right winger Beckett Sennecke. But he's also brought in veterans, such as blueliners John Carlson, Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas, as well as forwards Alex Killorn, Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund.
He still has $40.5 million in salary cap space to use this summer. That's what we call a well-managed team, and that's why Verbeek deserves to be a finalist for the Jim Gregory Award.
2. Bill Guerin, Minnesota Wild
When you talk about the GM who made this year's biggest trade, you have to hand it to Guerin for acquiring superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks.
Guerin paid a massive cost to bring Hughes to the Wild, but that speaks to the stock of draft picks and prospects he built up so that he could outbid other teams for Hughes' services.
He also made NHL history by re-signing superstar Kirill Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million contract, the largest contract in terms of total value the league has ever seen.
Meanwhile, in Guerin's seven seasons running things in Minnesota, the Wild have slowly but surely climbed the ranks of the Central Division.
So far in the playoffs, Minnesota knocked off the Stars in Round 1 and advanced to face the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.
Guerin was having a joyous 2026 by serving as GM of the gold-medal-winning Team USA at the Winter Olympics, but winning his first Jim Gregory Award would serve notice that he could soon be a perennial contender for the award.
1. Chris MacFarland, Colorado Avalanche
MacFarland isn't a household name outside of pro hockey circles, but he's our pick to win the Jim Gregory Award for a couple of key reasons.
Firstly, he and Avalanche president Joe Sakic put together the NHL's best team, bell-to-bell, from the start of the regular season to the end.
Then, MacFarland went about plugging virtually every one of the few holes he had in his roster with in-season trades, re-acquiring star center Nazem Kadri from the Calgary Flames, acquiring veteran center Nicolas Roy from the Toronto Maple Leafs and bringing in and veteran blueliner Brett Kulak from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
As a result, the Avalanche have been an even more imposing team in the playoffs, losing just one game out of eight thus far.
MacFarland has only been GM in Colorado since the summer of 2022, but he’s quickly made a name for himself in the hockey business by delivering the results teams crave.
While we see MacFarland as the favorite to win this year's Jim Gregory Award, we also believe this year won't be the last he deserves to win it.
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