Favorite memory of season: Celebrating life of Jim Gregory

The NHL season was paused on March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. During the break in the action, NHL.com writers will each look back at his or her favorite memory of the season so far. Today, columnist Dave Stubbs writes about how the hockey world celebrated the life of former NHL executive Jim Gregory, who died on Oct. 30.

Hockey lost a giant last Oct. 30 with the death of longtime NHL executive Jim Gregory, who worked his way through every level of the game to become one of the most respected and influential figures in the League.
Through more than four decades of covering hockey, I have referred to only three men as "Mr." -- iconic players Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe, and Jim Gregory. So it is that he is Mr. Gregory in this remembrance.
Over many years, I would often call Mr. Gregory for facts, background and context for my stories spanning decades of NHL history. Upon his death at age 83, I would write a handful more.

A common thread was the universal respect and praise of the NHL legends and lesser-light players who knew him as a friend, former trainer, coach, general manager, League executive and, often, a confidante.
I have covered the deaths, public visitations and funerals of many NHL giants, including Hall of Fame members Mr. Beliveau, Mr. Howe, Maurice Richard, Elmer Lach, Dickie Moore, Johnny Bower and others. The respect shown Mr. Gregory upon his death, and at his Toronto visitation and funeral by the hockey titans who assembled from far and wide, was equal to that shown those legends.
On Nov. 19, the NHL announced that the annual trophy honoring its top GM would be renamed the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, a perfect tribute.

Mr. Gregory had cut his hockey teeth as the trainer of the mid-1950s Junior A Toronto St. Michael's Majors. He graduated to GM of St. Mike's, won the 1961 Memorial Cup, then moved to the Toronto Marlboros, winning two more Memorial Cup titles, first as coach, then as GM. He would apprentice with the Toronto Maple Leafs' Western Hockey League affiliate, then return to Toronto to scout for a year before being named Maple Leafs GM, a post he held for a decade.
But Mr. Gregory made his greatest contribution to hockey over four decades with the NHL, hired in 1979 to expand its Central Scouting bureau. In time he was promoted to executive director of hockey operations, later senior VP, and he chaired the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee for 15 years, voted into the shrine himself in 2007 as a builder.

I'd suggest that his people skills were his greatest quality. Mr. Gregory treated an arena usher the same way he did a League president or Commissioner -- with grace, respect, dignity and gentle humor. He was a mentor to a great many, a wise counsel who guided careers in the NHL on down to the grassroots.
Mr. Gregory was admired for his work ethic, his ability to get things done and his unmatched knowledge of the game. I made certain I had a full mug of coffee when I sat with him to discuss hockey history, knowing full well that he already had forgotten much more about the game than I would ever know.

This gentleman's passing left a void in the NHL that will never be filled.
What a career. What a life. What a legacy. And what a privilege it was to know Mr. Gregory as I did, to harvest his knowledge while he was with us and to help celebrate him when he was gone.