THN.com/podcast. From The Hockey News Podcast: How Are the Florida Panthers Pulling This Off? Bruins GM Don Sweeney previously won the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award in 2018-19. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk4MTc1MzE0NjM0MzUxODA2/usatsi_12923683.jpg] Bruins GM Don Sweeney previously won the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award in 2018-19. Just when you thought awards season is over, the NHL pulls you back in. The NHL announced the finalists for the 2022-23 Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award on Wednesday, naming Dallas' Jim Nill, Boston's Don Sweeney and Florida's Bill Zito as the trio of finalists. The NHL's GMs, a panel of league executives and some print and broadcast media voted on the award after the second round of this year's Stanley Cup playoffs. Nill is certainly no stranger to this honor, having wound up as a GM-of-the-year finalist on two previous occasions. Under Nill, the Stars have transformed into one of the more consistent organizations in the NHL, making it to the Western Conference final twice in the past four seasons while also booking their ticket to the Stanley Cup final in 2020. After parting ways with coach Rick Bowness, Nill hired Pete DeBoer to command the Stars' bench this past off-season. The veteran coach led his club to its best regular-season finish since 2015-16, buoyed by the likes of Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger, whose contracts Nill re-upped last summer, as well. Sweeney, of course, is an obvious choice here, given that he just oversaw the most successful regular season in NHL history. At a time when the Bruins were expected to take a step back, Sweeney retooled the roster into the league's most fearsome unit, making the controversial decision to swap Bruce Cassidy out for coach Jim Montgomery, which seemed to give the Bruins the voice they were looking for. In addition to his personnel moves, Sweeney also swung massive trades for the likes of Dmitry Orlov, Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway, signed superstar David Pastrnak to a max-term extension, and found a diamond in the rough in forward Pavel Zacha, who blossomed into one of the NHL's best depth forwards. Sweeney also won the award in 2018-19. And then there's Zito, who earns this honor purely for having the gumption to re-shape his roster following a Presidents' Trophy season. The decision to deal core players in Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar to land Matthew Tkachuk would come to define Florida's season, giving the plucky Panthers are legitimate star presence to rally around. Despite sneaking into the playoffs by a single point, the Panthers have grabbed the NHL by the horns this post-season, knocking off two titans of the East in the Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs en route to their current 3-0 series stranglehold over the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final. None of that happens without Zito's gamble on Tkachuk, and his home-run swing lands him here. The winner will be announced on June 28 during the first round of the 2023 NHL draft.
