Colorado Avalanche: Joe Sakic wins GM of the Year Award

To no surprise, Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic wins the Jim Gregory Award for the 2021-22 season.

Adding onto a tremendous 2021-22 season, Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic has won the Jim Gregory Award. The award goes to General Manager of the Year.

Sakic’s Avalanche went on to lead the central division with 56 regular season wins.

The two other general manager nominated for the award were Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Drury of the New York Rangers.

To win a championship, whether it is the Stanley Cup or the Super Bowl, team building is crucial. The Avalanche have built a great team with a good mix of young and older veterans. Each player has their own special skill sets, which can end up being lethal for a team’s opponents.

When interviewed after the announcement, Sakic had the perfect response to winning the award:

Some of the moves that were made by Sakic are:

• Signing Center Alex Newhook to a 3-year, $4.4.75 million contract extension
• Trading for center Nico Sturm
• Trading for left winger Andrew Cogliano
• Trading for left winger Artturi Lehkonen

After several years of rebuilding, the Colorado Avalanche found themselves in the playoffs in each of the last five years. They shutout the Nashville Predators as well as the Edmonton Oilers in this year’s postseason.

Sakic beat out BrisBois by an outstanding 22 votes for the award (109-87). Chris Drury had 53 votes.

The Colorado Avalanche are in great position for the foreseeable future. Sakic will have some things to do in the near future—nothing more important than signing Center Nathan MacKinnon to a massive contract extension. He will also have to figure out what to do with some of the team’s unrestricted free agents when the 2022 NHL Draft comes to an end.

The future is bright for the Colorado Avalanche with a tremendous general manager. I am sure that the team’s moves going forward will help them compete to be back-to-back champions.