Ken Holland not among finalists for NHL’s General Manager of the Year Award

The NHL announced on Wednesday that Jim Nill, Don Sweeney, and Bill Zito are the finalists for the 2023 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.

The Jim Gregory Award is given annually to the NHL’s top general manager, as voted by a 41-member panel that consists of the league’s 32 general managers, five other league executives, and five members of the media. The vote comes after the second round of the playoffs, so it doesn’t just take into consideration how a team performed during the regular season.

If the Jim Gregory Award was based just on the regular season, Don Sweeney would be a slam dunk. The Boston Bruins put together the best regular season in NHL history this year with an incredible 65-12-5 record but they wound up getting shocked in the first round of the playoffs by the Florida Panthers.

The Panthers won the Presidents’ Trophy last season but bowed out in the playoffs in a second-round sweep. Zito pulled the trigger on a huge move during the off-season, sending long-time Panthers Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames for Matthew Tkachuk. The Panthers are now one win from the Stanley Cup Final and Tkachuk has three game-winning goals during their playoff run.

Not among the finalists is Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland. After adding Mattias Ekholm and Nick Bjugstad ahead of the trade deadline, the Oilers finished the regular season on an 18-2-1 run and wound up with the best record the team had seen since the 1980s. Had the Oilers made it through the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the playoffs, Holland likely would have recieved more consideration for the award.

Last year, Holland finished fourth in voting behind Joe Sakic, Julien BriseBois, and Chris Drury, the general managers of the other three teams who reached the Conference Finals. He received three first-place votes, seven second, and five third.