NEW YORK -- Bill Guerin of the Minnesota Wild is the 2025-26 recipient of the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. Voting for this honor was conducted among NHL Club General Managers and a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media at the conclusion of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Guerin was at a team dinner when he was surprised with the trophy by his wife, family and friends.
The GM for the gold medal-winning 2026 U.S. Men’s Olympic team was a Jim Gregory finalist for the first time and the first winner representing the Wild since the award was established in 2009-10.
Guerin was named on 37 of 40 ballots as a top-three selection for 131 voting points, finishing atop a close race with second-place Chris MacFarland (123 points). MacFarland, whose four-year tenure as Colorado Avalanche GM ended earlier this month when he joined the Nashville Predators, garnered the most first-place votes (20) and was listed on 31 ballots.
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.
2025-26 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award Voting
1. Bill Guerin, MIN 131 (14-19-4)
2. Chris MacFarland, COL 123 (20-6-5)
3. Pat Verbeek, ANA 29 (2-5-4)
4. Kyle Dubas, PIT 21 (2-2-5)
5. Kent Hughes, MTL 20 (0-4-8)
6. Eric Tulsky, CAR 14 (0-2-8)
7. Daniel Briere, PHI 7 (1-0-2)
8. Don Sweeney, BOS 6 (1-0-1)
t-9. Julien BriseBois, TBL 3 (0-1-0)
Jarmo Kekalainen, BUF 3 (0-1-0)
11. Jim Nill, DAL 2 (0-0-2)
12. Steve Staios, OTT 1 (0-0-1)
(5-3-1 points allocation)
