Verbeek Nominated for 2025-26 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award

Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek has been named a finalist for the 2025-26 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. This marks Verbeek’s first nomination for the award and the second Ducks General Manager to be nominated following Bob Murray, a finalist for three consecutive seasons (won in 2013-14, finished second in 2012-13, third in 2014-15).

Verbeek is in the midst of his fifth season as General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks. Named the sixth General Manager in Ducks history on Feb. 3, 2022, Verbeek oversees all aspects of the club’s hockey operations. Verbeek has since assembled one of the top collections of young talent in the NHL. Under his leadership, the Ducks hockey operations department added additional scouting and player development staff, implemented a full-scale performance department based on data and sports science, and grew the analytics staff focused on video scouting, research, development, data science and engineering.

Since his arrival, he has drafted or acquired Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke and Cutter Gauthier, among other young skilled players, while adding several veteran pieces through trade and free agency to compliment the club. Over the last year, Verbeek has acquired multiple players to help the club a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including defenseman John Carlson (trade), center Mikael Granlund (free agent) left wing Chris Kreider (trade) and center Ryan Poehling (trade). He also named Joel Quenneville the club’s head coach prior to the campaign.

The Ducks climbed 21 points in the standings last season and improved by another 12 points this year, one of two clubs with double-digit increases in each of the past two campaigns. The Ducks finished third in the Pacific Division in the regular season and advanced to the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in six games in their First Round series.  

Verbeek has two Stanley Cups on his resume and 37 years of NHL experience, including 17 as an executive and 20 as an NHL player. He won Stanley Cups as a player (1999 with Dallas) and Professional Scout (2008 with Detroit) and helped build foundational pieces of Tampa Bay’s eventual back-to-back championship teams in 2020 and 2021. 

Prior to his current role, Verbeek spent three seasons as Assistant General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings (2019-22) where he was involved in all hockey operations matters with a focus on player personnel decisions. He also served as a Professional Scout for Detroit from 2006-10. He also spent nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning as Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel (2012-19), and Director of Professional Scouting (2010-12). Verbeek also served as Director of Player Personnel for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and won a gold medal as part of Canada’s management staff at the 2015 World Championship.

About the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award
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. Voting for the 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.