Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman is a finalist for General Manager of the Year at tonight’s NHL Awards in Las Vegas.
As most of us are painfully aware, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s season has come to an end, and the pains of the off-season are already starting to hit. Thankfully, there are a few events on the horizon that will help relieve some of the off-season pain and give us a taste of the sport we miss so dearly.
The first of those events kicks off tonight as all the National Hockey League’s top players, coaches, and general managers head to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for the grand spectacle known as the NHL Awards.
The show will be hosted by 22 Jump Street actor Rob Riggle. The players, coaching staff, and fans will be entertained after the awards are all handed out by a full-length concert from music superstars Daughtry.
In years past, we have had a mix of both players and coaching staff nominated for (or statistically won) awards in the yearly competition, but this year there is one lone person representing the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Awards Show; Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman.
Maybe we are a little biased here, but we feel as if Steve Yzerman is the definite frontrunner for the Award for General Manager of the Year. In his very first year at the helm of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization, the team was just one game shy of an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.
This may not seem like much to the average joe, but considering the 2010-11 season was supposed to be a major “rebuilding year” for the Lightning, that is a pretty big accomplishment.
The one thing that Yzerman has been rock solid on since taking the helm is building a strong core of young players who are not only NHL ready, but could be ready at a moment’s notice to come up to the main roster and even keep pace with some of the team’s biggest stars.
RELATED: Steve Yzerman Named Finalist for GM of the Year
This came into play on a much grander scale this season when the Tampa Bay Lightning became the Eastern Conference Champions and even came with two games of winning the Stanley Cup. Young players like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn, and Cedric Paquette all played rather large roles in the regular and post-season success of the team.
Over the years there have been a lot of questions about the future of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization and what they would have to do in order to truly be competitive in this league, but ever since Jeff Vinik purchased the team and handed the reins over the Steve Yzerman, the “Yzer-plan” has yet to do us wrong. In fact, we have some pretty lofty aspirations for next season.
Steve Yzerman will have some pretty serious competition in this category. New York Rangers General Manager Glen Sather and Anaheim Ducks General Manager Bob Murray are also nominated for the honor.
Both of these General Managers had teams that made pretty deep runs in the 2014-15 post season. Interestingly enough, both teams were defeated in their respective Conference Championship; the Anaheim Ducks were defeated by the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals and the New York Rangers were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals.
When it is all said and done, we still stand resolute that the award should be presented to Steve Yzerman, but as we said…we may be a little biased on this one. Will Yzerman ultimately walk away with the prize in hand? We’ll have to watch and find out!
What other awards are you looking forward to seeing handed out tonight? What do you think of the entertainment the NHL has lined up for tonight’s festivities? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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