The NHL announced Wednesday its three selected finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year award. Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars, Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers, and Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins were nominated, but one name was notably absent.
The largest season-to-season turnaround in NHL history was masterminded by none other than General Manager Tom Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils. ‘Fitz’ addressed several areas of concern from the previous season by signing and trading for a slew of different players of all sizes and skill sets. Most notably, Fitzgerald traded Pavel Zacha’s rights for Erik Haula, added a starting goaltender in Vitek Vanecek, signed an experienced veteran in Ondrej Palat, traded a few picks and part-time NHLers for Timo Meier, and acquired a fringe top-pairing defenseman in John Marino at the cost of Ty Smith and a pick.