Kevin Cheveldayoff of the Winnipeg Jets, Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars, and Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers are the finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.
The award has been presented annually since 2009-10 to the general manager who best excelled at his role during the regular season. It is voted on by the League's general managers and a panel of NHL executives and print and broadcast media after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Cheveldayoff, in his 14th season as Jets GM, led Winnipeg to the Central Division title and Presidents' Trophy this season as the team with the best regular-season record (56-22-4). He has held the position since the team relocated from Atlanta prior to the 2011-12 season and has guided the Jets to the postseason in seven of the past eight seasons.
Despite making no significant additions last offseason and losing defenseman Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt and forwards Tyler Toffoli and Sean Monahan, the Jets finished tied for third in the NHL in goals per game (3.35) and were first on the power play (28.9 percent). Goalie Connor Hellebuyck won the William M. Jennings Trophy for helping them allow a League-low 2.43 goals-against during the regular season. He also is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL and the Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player.
Cheveldayoff also named Scott Arniel the permanent coach prior to the season and the Jets acquired defenseman Luke Schenn and forward Brandon Tanev before to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7.
"When it gets to the Trade Deadline, it's kind of like a box of chocolates, you don't know necessarily what's out there," Cheveldayoff said May 21. "… I thought, for us, we kind of had a multi-layered plan going into the deadline as to how we wanted to attack it and wanted to give ourselves the greatest flexibility that we could. We were able to add [Schenn] and we were able to add [Tanev], two players that bring different elements to a lineup and in various different circumstances, they were very, very helpful in different regards."
Cheveldayoff, 55, is a finalist for the second time; he was runner up in 2017-18.
Nill, in his 12th season with the Stars, helped them finish second in the Central Division (50-26-6) this season. Dallas signed free agent forward Colin Blackwell, defensemen Mathew Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and Brendan Smith and goalie Casey DeSmith during the offseason. The Stars advanced to the Western Conference Final for the third straight season, doing so without forward Tyler Seguin and defenseman Miro Heiskanen for a large part of the season.
"I got here three years ago, and I think every year we've been in a spot at the deadline where [Nill has] gone out and traded assets to give us a chance to win," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said Friday. "I think it's not easy to do that from the GM chair, especially with Jim's background. His background is scouting and developing and young players, so I give him all the credit in the world for taking the swings he's taken over the last three years that I've been here."
Prior to the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, the Stars acquired forwards Mikko Rantanen and Mikael Granlund, and defenseman Cody Ceci. Rantanen signed an eight-year, $96 million contract ($12 million average annual value) with the Stars and is leading all scorers in the playoffs with 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists), and Granlund has nine points (five goals, four assists). Ceci ranks third on the Stars in ice time per game during the playoffs (21:51).
"If you had told me back in October Mikko Rantanen would be available for trade and you'd have a chance to get him, I'd say, 'What are you smoking? What are you doing? What are you on here?'" Nill said earlier this month. "Well, because of circumstances, he gets traded out East. I figure, 'Well, he's out East.' Boom. Now you start to hear rumblings towards the deadline that they can't sign him, and you get a phone call a week before the deadline. 'Hey, we're looking at different options.' And it worked out."
Nill, 67, who won the award each of the past two seasons, is a finalist for the fifth time; he was third in voting in 2015-16 and 2019-20.
"When you make a trade like that for Mikko, obviously he gave up a lot of future stuff, but it shows the guys in here that he thinks we have a real chance at winning it all," Stars goalie Jake Oettinger said. "You want to get it done for him, because he gave us huge pieces that we need to go on a long run."
Zito, in his fifth season as Panthers GM, helped Florida reach the Eastern Conference Final for the third straight season. Florida (47-31-4) finished third in the Atlantic Division this season despite losing key pieces from the team that won the Stanley Cup last season, including forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan Lomberg, defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Montour and goalie Anthony Stolarz.
Forwards Jesper Boqvist and A.J. Greer, and defenseman Nate Schmidt were signed during free agency and have provided depth, and prior to the Trade Deadline, Florida acquired defenseman Seth Jones, forward Brad Marchand and goalie Vitek Vanecek.
"A player like [Marchand], a player like Seth too, when these players become available, and you have that need or that fit with your group, you pursue it, in my mind," Zito said March 7. "And we're thrilled."
Zito, 60, is a finalist for the third straight season and fourth time in five seasons. He finished third in 2020-21, 2022-23 and 2023-24.
"How would I describe our relationship?" Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Friday. "He's smart. Like, he's just way smarter than I am and I'm fine with that. I'm not trying to be funny. His brain works way differently than mine and he sees possibilities. I'm more risk averse in some ways and he is, 'I think we can make that deal.' He is a very positive, very optimistic person. You feel it. You feel it every day. He's in our coach’s office every single day. He pulls up a chair and he hangs out with us, and he's completely comfortable firing out any, as he would say, crazy idea, and some of them are, but a lot of them are just, 'Yeah, I hadn't thought about it like that before.'"
NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika and senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report
