Penguins’ Dubas & Hurricanes’ Tulsky Were Snubbed in GM of the Year Award Voting

The Jim Gregory Award for GM of the Year is often challenging to assess. This year’s nominees—Bill Guerin, Pat Verbeek, and Chris MacFarland—have led the Minnesota Wild, Anaheim Ducks, and Colorado Avalanche to strong campaigns, but a couple of deserving candidates were snubs.

The Pittsburgh Penguins weren’t expected to be a playoff team, yet Kyle Dubas assembled a roster that exceeded expectations. In Carolina, Eric Tulsky turned the Hurricanes into a powerhouse. Both GMs had strong cases for the Jim Gregory Award and arguably should have been nominated for it.

Penguins Defied Everyone’s Expectations

Almost everyone, myself included, thought the Penguins would be in the running for Gavin McKenna and the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. They defied expectations, and Dubas deserves plenty of credit for helping the Penguins defy those expectations.

The Penguins were one of the busier teams this past offseason, although most of Dubas’ transactions were modest at best. His most impressive acquisition was signing Anthony Mantha to a one-year, $2.5 million contract in free agency. Mantha went on to have a career season, totaling 33 goals and 64 points in 81 games. He’s one of the top unrestricted free agents this offseason and will likely secure a bag, whether it’s with the Penguins or another team.

That wasn’t the only savvy move Dubas made, though. He signed Justin Brazeau to a two-year deal, and although he missed a good chunk of the season, he still had a career year, totaling 17 goals and 34 points in 64 games. He’s a prime regression candidate for next season, but he was a significant part of their success in 2025-26.

Dubas also took a flyer on Parker Wotherspoon, a depth defenseman who had solid underlying metrics with the Boston Bruins last season. Wotherspoon delivered and spent much of the season on one of the Penguins’ top two defense pairs.

In net, Dubas managed to clear Tristan Jarry’s contract in the trade that sent Stuart Skinner to Pittsburgh, and he acquired Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks for a mid-round pick. Silovs was solid this season and looks like someone they can keep around for the foreseeable future while Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist keep developing.

Dubas didn’t let up when the season started, either. One of the best trades of the 2025-26 season was when the Penguins acquired Egor Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a couple of draft picks and Danton Heinen. Chinakhov totaled 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games in a Penguins sweater, a 34-goal, 68-point pace over 82 games.

Dubas also took flyers on a couple of younger players, Sam Girard and Elmer Soderblöm, who needed a change of scenery. Soderblöm totaled five goals and 10 points in 20 games with the Penguins, while Girard collected seven assists in 20 games. Both players have some team control and fit the mold of Dubas wanting to get younger as the team eventually transitions away from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang over the next few years.

While all of these additions to the Penguins’ roster were instrumental to their success, Dubas’ best move may have been hiring Dan Muse as head coach. The Penguins were one of the better five-on-five teams this season, finishing with an expected goals share (xG%) above 51 percent. Muse transformed them into a more run-and-gun, rush-based team, and it ultimately helped him earn a nomination for the Jack Adams award.

Tulsky Has the Hurricanes Flying High

Tulsky has not been as active as Dubas over the last year, but he’s made some shrewd moves to help the Hurricanes become a wagon in the Eastern Conference. Tulsky’s most notable transactions, dating back to last year’s NHL draft, were acquiring K’Andre Miller in a trade with the New York Rangers and signing Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency.

Miller was a bit of a risky move for the Hurricanes. He was coming off an underwhelming season with the Rangers, but there were some green flags to point to him being a good bet. Miller missed some time with an injury this season, but he was excellent when available. He totaled eight goals and 37 points in 72 games, and his underlying metrics were quite good.

Miller finished with an xG% of 56.93 percent, and his two-way impacts at even strength were excellent. He proved that he was a smart bet by Tulsky:

The knock on the Hurricanes for a few seasons has been that they don’t have enough game-breaking scoring talent. I’m not sure Ehlers is quite that, but he had a great first season with the Hurricanes. He finished with 26 goals and 71 points and played in all 82 games, which he’s had trouble with in the past. He was one of the Hurricanes’ most efficient five-on-five scorers, averaging 1.95 points per 60 minutes.

Maybe Ehlers isn’t a game-breaker, per se. But his skill and rush game helped give the Hurricanes something they needed more of off the rush and in transition, especially as they’ve opened up their rush game over the last season and a half.

While Ehlers and Miller were Tulsky’s two big acquisitions over the last year, don’t forget about Brandon Bussi. The Hurricanes acquired Bussi via waivers, and he was a big reason for their success early in the season. Even though his numbers trailed off as the season progressed, Bussi still saved 2.8 goals above expected. He totaled an .895 save percentage, which was equal to the league average. He was another savvy, under-the-radar pickup by Tulsky, and he literally cost nothing to acquire.

Dubas and Tulsky Deserve Their Flowers

I don’t want to knock Verbeek for what he’s done with the Ducks, but much of their success this season was due to incredible drafting over the last three to five years. He’s done a great job via the draft, but Tulsky or Dubas should be nominated for their work over the last year rather than Verbeek.

It’s also easy to understand why Guerin received a nomination. That Quinn Hughes trade took a lot of guts to make. Still, Guerin didn’t do much else to raise the team’s ceiling. They desperately needed another center, which was among the reasons the Avalanche eliminated them in five games. Michael McCarron and Nick Foligno weren’t needle movers, so Dubas and Tulsky have a case to be nominated over Guerin, too.

Ultimately, there were plenty of good candidates for GM of the Year. Montreal Canadiens fans would have a strong case for Kent Hughes, too, but it does feel like Tulsky and Dubas were the biggest snubs and deserved to be nominated.

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