What does taking your team to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and winning two of them get you? Not the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award in Bill Zito’s case. It’s “an annual award presented to recognize the work of the top general manager in the NHL,” the league says about the award created in 2009. Yet, despite his success in transforming Florida, the award has eluded Zito.
When the Florida Panthers appointed Bill Zito as their general manager in September 2020, the 60-year-old took charge of a team that didn’t make it to 7 of the last 10 playoffs. Yet, within five years of taking charge, the GM has helped turn Florida into what players like Matthew Tkachuk believe to be a Stanley Cup dynasty. So you can imagine the reaction when the NHL voted someone else to win the award.
That someone else is Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill. What’s more? This was Nill’s third consecutive Jim Gregory award, as he became the only general manager to achieve this feat. Nill finished the season with a fifth-best record (50-26-6) in the league and helped the Stars reach three consecutive conference finals. However, fans didn’t find him deserving, as one wrote, “Zito was completely robbed,” in Frank Seravalli’s post.
2025 Jim Gregory #NHL General Manager of the Year award is #TexasHockey Jim Nill.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 28, 2025
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