Super Joe: Avs leader Sakic wins NHL’s top honor for general managers

The awards keep on coming for the Colorado Avalanche.

This time, it’s top boss Joe Sakic taking home some well-earned hardware.

Sakic was named the recipient of the Jim Gregory General Manager of the year Award on Thursday night, presented to the best GM in the NHL. It was Sakic’s first time being nominated for and winning the honor.

General Manager of the year.
Well, well, WELL deserved, Joe.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/gaqrndUlRv

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) July 8, 2022

Where do you even begin on what Sakic did to help the Avalanche win their third Stanley Cup in franchise history? Last season’s roster has his fingerprints all over it and Sakic made a plethora of key moves to help the Avs win the best trophy in sports.

Sakic acquired goaltender Darcy Kuemper in a trade on July 28 and signed free agent center Darren Helm the following day. He added to the team at the trade deadline, bringing in defenseman Josh Manson on March 14 and winger Artturi Lehkonen and center Andrew Cogliano on March 21. Each guy scored at least one game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Other key additions in Sakic’s eight-year tenure as GM include drafting Nathan MacKinnon (2013), Mikko Rantanen (2015), Cale Makar (2017) and Bowen Byram (2019). He traded for Samuel Girard, Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky and Devon Toews as well. He signed Valeri Nichushkin as a free agent in 2019 and locked up Gabriel Landeskog with a massive extension last offseason. Sakic also hired Jared Bednar in 2016 to turn the club around after Patrick Roy abruptly quit.

Sakic received 16 of the 42 first-place votes and was named in the top-3 on 29 out of 42 ballots. He received 109 total points for the Jim Gregory Award, beating out Tampa Bay’s Julien BriseBois with 87 points and New York Rangers GM Chris Drury with 53 points. Sakic and Drury won a Stanley Cup together in 2001.

In his 20-season Hockey Hall of Fame playing career, all with the Colorado/Quebec franchise, Sakic won the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, Conn Smythe Trophy, Lady Byng Trophy, NHL Foundation Player Award and two Stanley Cups.

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