As the Stanley Cup Playoffs roll on, the NHL Awards nominees are coming out. The Jim Gregory Award is given out annually to the top NHL general manager. Voting happens after the second round of the playoffs, so the league finally has the award nominees ready. The three NHL GMs nominated for the Jim Gregory Award are the Dallas Stars' Jim Nill, the Florida Panthers' Bill Zito, and the Winnipeg Jets' Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Jim Nill has won the Jim Gregory Award in back-to-back seasons. The Stars are amid their third consecutive run to the Western Conference Final, so his wins are warranted. This year, he made one of the biggest deals of the trade deadline when he added Mikko Rantanen to the team. Rantanen leads the entire league in playoff scoring. They also added Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci and extended Wyatt Johnston.

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Bill Zito is a Jim Gergory Award finalist for the third consecutive year as the Panthers play in their third straight conference final. They won the Stanley Cup last year and kept on adding throughout the year. Seth Jones and Brad Marchand came over at the trade deadline, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe signed extensions, and they replaced a lot of players who left. Zito's Panthers are already two wins away from reaching their third straight Cup Final,

Even though the Jets fell short of the Conference Final again, Kevin Cheveldayoff is nominated for the Jim Gregory Award. Connor Hellebuyck fell apart early in the playoffs, but the team held it together against the Blues. When the goalie took off against the Stars, the offense faltered. They lost to Dallas in six games.

The NHL Awards will not be happening before the Draft, as has been the recent tradition. There is no announcement as to when the awards will be announced.