Why the NHL general manager of the year award makes no sense

The NHL general manager of the year award is often criticized, and deservedly so.

On Saturday evening, the NHL continued to announce its annual regular-season awards. Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche received the Lady Byng Memorial trophy over Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues. The Lady Byng is given for the combination of sportsmanship and skill.

Also awarded on Saturday night was the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islander received the award. Lamoriello was the 11th annual recipient of the award. It was the first time the award was given to an Islanders GM. Does the average fan know how the award was earned?

Arguably the biggest splash at the February 24th trade deadline was made in December when Arizona traded for Taylor Hall from New Jersey. After that, there was nothing even close to a blockbuster trade this season. Although impact moves involved players like Andreas Athanasiou, Marco Scandella, and Vincent Trocheck, these are by no means household names.

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The biggest non-trade move during the season was the New York Rangers decision to resign Chris Kreider to a hefty seven-year contract valued at $6.5 annually, despite rumors of a possible trade for a calendar year.

Any move can make an impact on a team’s Stanley Cup run. Any GM would like to add depth with a fourth line faceoff specialist, and that type of move is very common at the deadline. However, the award does include the body of work that includes the previous year’s draft and offseason.

The GM of the year award is voted on by all of the GMs around the league along with five other NHL executives and five media members.

So when you break down what each team did personnel-wise it is more than simply being employed by an organization that succeeds on the ice (all four teams in the conference finals had a GM in the top five vote-getters) that can get you votes.

As we look at the top five vote-getters for the award and their body of work this year, remember two things. First, we do not know the specific voting criteria is or what the voters saw in each GM. Second, whichever team wins the Stanley Cup, the moves they made were well worth it, without argument.

Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders

Lamoriello received 86 points and 11 first-place votes. His offseason moves include resigning captain Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, and Jordan Eberle in the offseason. Those three combined for 140 points in the regular season. Each eclipsed 40 points and played in 68 games.

His notable offseason additions included goalie Semyon Varlamov (who split time with Thomas Greiss) and center Derick Brassard (32 points in 66 games).

Of the top five GMs in votes, Lamoriello arguably made the most impactful moves at the deadline. The Isles acquired both former Ottawa Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau and former New Jersey Captain Andy Greene in February. Pageau was immediately extended for six years. New York paid their first two 2020 draft picks as well as their second-round pick in 2021.

Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning

BriseBois received 71 points and eight first-place votes. Tampa’s biggest offseason moves included trading away J.T. Miller for a 2019 3rd round pick and a 2020 1st round pick. As well as signing journeyman and 2019 playoff hero Pat Maroon, and Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk each to one-year contracts.

More importantly, BriseBois oversaw the September resigning of Brayden Point. Although Point was a restricted free agent, the Lightning would not be the same if they were required to part ways with the 24-year-old center. In a playoff without Steven Stamkos, Point has eight goals and 15 assists after a dominating game four against the Isles on Sunday.

Not as big of a hit as signing a young, perennial 50 point player was Tampa’s trade deadline moves. Tampa acquired Barclay Goodrow and a 3rd round pick in exchange for a 2020 1st round pick and minor leaguer Anthony Greco. Goodrow tallied two assists in eight regular-season games and one goal with three assists so far this postseason. Are those numbers worthy of a first-round pick?

Along with Goodrow, Tampa also traded for Blake Coleman from New Jersey. Coleman had cost even more than Goodrow at a price of a first-round pick and former first-round pick forward Nolan Foote. Coleman’s production has been slightly better, at least in the postseason, with three goals and five assists so far.

Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars

Nill received 61 points and eight first-place votes. Dallas’ success this season is all despite having fired head coach Jim Montgomery in December. That alone is impressive when you see the run they have been on this postseason.

Add to it that Nill did not make any moves that affected the NHL roster during the season. Perhaps some voters can appreciate a patient hand and trusting the pieces they already have.

Nill did have a somewhat active free agency signing Joe Pavelski, Corey Perry, and Andrej Sekera all on July 1st. Perry and Sekera each signed for one year, while Pavelski signed a three-year deal. Pavelski put up a 31 point season for Dallas at the age of 36.

Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche

Sakic received 60 points and five first-place votes. Sakic may have had one of the busiest calendar years of any GM. Sakic brokered a trade to acquire Nazem Kadri at the cost of Tyson Barrie and Alexander Kerfoot.

Barrie became expendable because of the emergence of Cale Makar. Colorado also traded for restricted free agent Andre Burakovsky from Washington, sending a second-round pick their way.

Trades aside Colorado re-signed Nikita Zadorov, Ryan Graves, J.T. Compher, and the aforementioned Burakovsky. Sakic also locked up Mikko Rantanen and Sam Girard to long term extensions. New additions through free agency included Jonas Donskoi, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Valeri Nichushkin.

Sakic was not content with inaction at the trade deadline. Colorado acquired Vladislav Namestnikov for a 2021 fourth-round draft pick. As well as some goaltending depth in Michael Hutchinson from Toronto. That netminder depth ended up being needed during Colorado’s playoff series against Dallas.

Kelly McCrimmon of the Vegas Golden Knights

McCrimmon received 36 points and four first-place votes. The Vegas GM was comparably as busy as Sakic in his moves. Vegas’ offseason began by extending William Karlsson for eight years at $47 million.

He then traded away Erik Haula and Colin Miller in separate deals that saw a return of Nicolas Roy and two mid-round draft picks. Smaller impacts were made in free agency with signings like Tomas Nosek, Brandon Pirri, and Malcolm Subban.

When it came to in-season trades, Vegas was as active as anyone. Speedy Chandler Stevenson was acquired from Washington for a fifth-round pick in December. While the trade deadline brought in Alec Martinez, Nick Cousins, and goaltender Robin Lehner. In summation, McCrimmon added two Stanley Cup champs and a Jennings trophy winner by the deadline.

So who was actually deserving of the Jim Gregory General Manager of the year award? Lamoriello obviously, is the one who received the award in the end. Either the powers that be must know what it really took to succeed on Long Island this year since Isles coach Barry Trotz was not even a finalist for the Jack Adams Award (coach of the year).