Vancouver Canucks GM Patrik Allvin named finalist for NHL’s Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award
By Jagraj Lalli
2 months agoOn Thursday morning, Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin was announced as one of the three finalists for the 2023-24 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. The award, first presented in 2009-10, was renamed in 2019-20 to honour Jim Gregory, the 2007 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee who served as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager and a League executive for four decades.
Allvin oversaw a Canucks team that captured the Pacific Division title and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with the third-highest point total in franchise history (50-23-9, 109 points). One of Allvin’s key moves for the Canucks’ turnaround was the January 2023 hiring of Rick Tocchet. In his first full season with the club, Tocchet won the 2023-24 Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top head coach.
Allvin strengthened Tocchet’s roster with several strategic moves, including signing summer free agents C Teddy Blueger, D Ian Cole, D Carson Soucy, and C Pius Suter. The in-season trade acquisitions of C Elias Lindholm, D Nikita Zadorov, and C Sam Lafferty further bolstered the team’s performance.
The other nominees for the award are Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars and Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers. Nill’s Stars (52-21-9) led the Western Conference with 113 points, their highest total since the Stanley Cup-winning 1998-99 squad (114), and have advanced to the Western Conference Final for the third time in five seasons. Zito’s Panthers (52-24-6) recorded the second-highest regular-season point total in franchise history (110) and have advanced to the Eastern Conference Final in consecutive years for the first time ever.
Allvin, a first-time Jim Gregory finalist, can become the second Canucks GM to win the award, following Mike Gillis in 2010-11. He also looks to join current Vancouver president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, who claimed GM of the Year honours with Pittsburgh in 2015-16, the year they won the Stanley Cup.
The winner will be announced during pregame programming ahead of the Stanley Cup Final game on Monday, June 10.
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