Bergevin, Lamoriello, and Zito voted finalists for GM of the Year Award
Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin, along with Islanders’ GM Lou Lamoriello and Columbus’ Bill Zito, is up for the 2020-21 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.
In a release, the league said:
Voting for this award was conducted among the NHL general managers and a panel of League executives, print and broadcast media at the conclusion of the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The winner will be announced Monday, June 21, by NBC Sports, Sportsnet and TVA Sports during their pregame window for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals series between the Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Bergevin made huge additions to his club this past offseason, and fans are seeing the effects of those moves first hand.
Tyler Toffoli was signed to an extremely team-friendly contract and has scored 33 goals through 65 games in a Habs’ sweater, while veteran pickups Corey Perry, Joel Edmundson, and Eric Staal have all worked about better than anyone would have expected.
As they’re showing in this year’s postseason, the Islanders are a force to be reckoned with, and Lamoriello is being recognized for his work in getting them there.
Now in his 33rd season as an NHL general manager, Lamoriello became the first Islanders GM to capture Jim Gregory honors in 2019-20, is the first GM to earn back-to-back nominations since Anaheim’s Bob Murray (2012-13 through 2014-15) and is vying to become the first two-time winner since the award’s inception in 2009-10.
Florida’s Bill Zito is the first GM to be nominated for the award in their debut season since Ottawa’s Pierre Dorion did it back in 2016-17.
As the NHL pointed out in their release, five of the Panthers’ top 10 goal-scorers during the regular season were Zito acquisitions via free agency or trade: Carter Verhaeghe, 18; Alex Wennberg, 17; Patric Hornqvist, 14; Anthony Duclair, 10; and trade-deadline pickup Sam Bennett, who tallied 6-9–15 in 10 GP down the stretch.