Maloney, McPhee, Poile Named Finalists for NHL General Manager of the Year Award

[Thrillhouse]

NEW YORK -- Don Maloney of the Phoenix Coyotes, George McPhee of the Washington Capitals and David Poile of the Nashville Predators have been voted finalists for the inaugural NHL General Manager of the Year Award, the National Hockey League announced today.

Voting for this new award was conducted among the 30 Club General Managers and a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media. The winner will be announced during the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.

Following are the finalists, in alphabetical order, for NHL General Manager of the Year:

Don Maloney, Phoenix Coyotes
Maloney steered the Coyotes through an uncertain and turbulent off-season, charting the course for the most successful regular season in franchise history. His biggest move was hiring head coach Dave Tippett, who guided the Coyotes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2002 by posting a 50-27-5 record for 107 points and setting franchise records for wins and points in a season. With the Coyotes already enjoying a breakout season, the acquisitions of forwards Lee Stempniak and Wojtek Wolski plus defensemen Derek Morris and Mathieu Schneider at the Mar. 3 trade deadline propelled the club to even greater heights.

George McPhee, Washington Capitals
McPhee's Capitals set a club record with 121 points (54-15-13) on the way to the first Presidents' Trophy in franchise history and their third consecutive Southeast Division title. The Capitals tallied 313 goals, becoming the NHL's highest-scoring club since 1995-96. The club's biggest free-agent signing last summer, forward Mike Knuble, tallied 29 goals and made a good fit on the top line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Organizational depth was highlighted by the contributions made by several players recalled from the Capitals' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, who also posted the top record in their league (60-17-3).

David Poile, Nashville Predators
Under Poile's leadership the Predators qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth time in the past six seasons with a 47-29-6 record for 100 points. More than half of the regular lineup was drafted and developed by the organization, including core defensemen Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Klein. Leading scorer Patric Hornqvist and starting goaltender Pekka Rinne were selected by Nashville with the 230th and 258th overall selections in their respective draft years. Poile entered an elite class on March 21 when the Predators defeated St. Louis for his 1,000th regular-season win as a GM.

[dtdc2k3]

Way to go Mcphee on anothre year of not bothering to try to adress your teams lack of defence and continuing to be a bargain shopper on july 1 and the trade deadline for three years stright. You sure no how to build a solid regular season team that folds in the playoffs. For this you get my vote.

[Redtown]

No Darryl Sutter or Bryan Murray?

[dtdc2k3]

I thought the award for this was the stanly cup.

[grits207]

Kind of ridiculous that none of the GM of the Year and Jack Adams finalist's teams made it out of the 1st round of the playoffs.

[Isles4life]

Originally Posted by Redtown

No Darryl Sutter or Bryan Murray?

Forget those guys, what about Brian Lawton?

[nyislesfan45]

Garth Snow hands down .

[gdameo]

Maloney wins this one...hands down

[BrianTheAdsFan]

Poile should get it.

[gdameo]

Originally Posted by BrianTheAdsFan

Poile should get it.

lol homer nope

maloney gets it.....phx r a lot more surprising this year than nash

[HordiBrusk29]

Originally Posted by gdameo

Maloney wins this one...hands down

Agreed. Pretty easily too, IMO.

[BrianTheAdsFan]

Originally Posted by gdameo

lol homer nope

maloney gets it.....phx r a lot more surprising this year than nash

Haha...but Maloney got to spend money from all the other clubs when they were drawing dick for half of the season.

[gdameo]

Originally Posted by BrianTheAdsFan

Haha...but Maloney got to spend money from all the other clubs when they were drawing dick for half of the season.

true but you gotta admit that they were very surprising this season...hell even the Red Wings had to go to Game 7 to beat them.

[BrianTheAdsFan]

If it wasn't for the new bidders basically forcing Gretzky to step down, he'd still be your coach.

Tippett was an awesome hire in a bad situation.

[OLLBLUEEYZ]

I think you have to give this to Maloney..
the only option for me is Poile due to his amazing consistency in a market that’s not know for hockey fans.