NEW YORK -- Bill Guerin of the Minnesota Wild, Chris MacFarland of the Colorado Avalanche and Pat Verbeek of the Anaheim Ducks are the three finalists for the 2025-26 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, the National Hockey League announced today.
Voting for this award was conducted among the NHL general managers and a panel of League executives and media at the conclusion of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Following are the finalists, in alphabetical order:
Bill Guerin, Minnesota Wild
Guerin’s blockbuster move to acquire Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Quinn Hughes in a Dec. 12 trade sparked the Wild (46-24-12, 104 points) to the seventh-best record in the NHL and a First Round playoff win over the no. 3 overall Dallas Stars. Hughes logged an average of 27:54 per game in his 48 regular-season games with Minnesota, the highest figure in the NHL over that span, and tallied 5‑48—53 to set franchise records for assists and points in a season by a defenseman. Hughes joined an already-strong Wild roster that Guerin had built serving as Wild GM since 2019, including 50+ point scorers Kirill Kaprizov (89; who Guerin signed to an eight-year extension prior to the start of the season), Matt Boldy (85), Mats Zuccarello (54), Joel Eriksson Ek (51) and Brock Faber (51). Other additions to the Wild included summer acquisitions Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm and trade deadline moves for Bobby Brink, Nick Foligno and Jeff Petry. The GM for the gold medal-winning 2026 U.S. Men’s Olympic team is a Jim Gregory finalist for the first time and the first representing the Wild since the award was established in 2009-10.
Chris MacFarland, Colorado Avalanche
Under MacFarland the Avalanche (55-16-11, 121 points) led the overall NHL standings every day from Nov. 1 through to the end of the season to win the franchise’s fourth Presidents’ Trophy and make their ninth consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, tied with Tampa Bay for the NHL’s longest active streak. Their 121 points were the most in franchise history and they became just the fourth team in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to lead the League in both (non-shootout) goals for (298) and goals against (197). MacFarland strengthened the perennial playoff contenders in the offseason by retaining forward Brock Nelson, acquired at the 2024-25 trade deadline, and signing free agent defenseman Brent Burns. He continued to improve the roster with in-season trade acquisitions Nazem Kadri, Brett Kulak, Nicolas Roy and Nick Blankenberg. MacFarland, in his fourth season as Avalanche GM and 11th with the organization, is a Jim Gregory finalist for the first time. His predecessor, current president of hockey operations Joe Sakic, became the first Colorado GM to capture the award in 2021-22.
Pat Verbeek, Anaheim Ducks
Verbeek assembled a Ducks team laden with young talent that qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2017-18 (43-33-6, 92 points). Building on a 21-point jump in the standings in 2024-25, the Ducks posted a 12-point gain in 2025-26, joining the Montreal Canadiens as the only clubs with double-digit increases in each of the past two campaigns. Guided by three-time Stanley Cup-winning head coach Joel Quenneville in his first season behind their bench, the Ducks scored a franchise-record 265 goals. The team’s top four scorers during the regular season -- Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke and Jackson LaCombe -- are 22, 21, 20 and 25, respectively. Complementing this youthful nucleus, Verbeek signed veteran forwards Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund over the summer and traded for forward Jeffrey Viel and defenseman John Carlson during the season. Verbeek is a Jim Gregory finalist for the first time. He is looking to become the second Anaheim GM to claim top honors following Bob Murray, a finalist for three consecutive seasons (1st in 2013-14, 2nd in 2012-13, 3rd in 2014-15).
History
The NHL General Manager of the Year Award first was presented in 2009-10. It was renamed in 2019-20 in honor of Jim Gregory, the 2007 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee who served as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager and a League executive for four decades.
