Just shy of two years to the date of his promotion, Caps’ GM Brian MacLellan has been named as a finalist for the NHL’s General Manager of the Year Award. The award has been given out since 2010 and is voted on by a 40-member panel that consists of all 30 general managers along with five NHL executives and five members of the media. MacLellan joins Dallas GM Jim Nill and Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford as the League’s three finalists for the award.
Since his arrival in DC, MacLellan has revitalized the Capitals, bringing in key acquisitions – most notably Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen in his first summer, Justin Williams and T.J. Oshie last year – to complement the team’s core. In large part because of those contributions, the Caps put together a franchise-best 2015-16 regular-season campaign and League-best 56-18-8 record en route to the team’s second Presidents’ Trophy.
Check out the full team press release below:
ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Hockey League (NHL) announced today that Capitals senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan is one of three finalists for the 2015-16 General Manager of the Year Award. Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars and Jim Rutherford of the Pittsburgh Penguins have also been nominated. Voting for the award was conducted among the 30 club general managers and a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media at the conclusion of the conference semifinals of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, June 22, during the 2016 NHL Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
MacLellan, 57, is vying to become the first Capitals general manager to win the award since it was introduced in 2009-10. MacLellan assembled a roster that was a runaway winner of the 2015-16 Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season club (56-18-8, 120 points). The Capitals’ 56 victories set a franchise record and made them just the 10th team in League history to collect as many wins in one season – and the first to do so since the 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings (58). Washington also set the franchise record in road victories this season (27) and its 120 points fell one shy of the team record set in 2009-10 (121). After signing free-agent defensemen Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik in 2014, MacLellan acquired a pair of key forwards last summer, signing Justin Williams and trading for T.J. Oshie. The Capitals ranked second in both goals per game (3.02) and goals-against per game (2.33) in 2015-16.
MacLellan was named the sixth general manager in the Capitals history on May 26, 2014. Washington has reached the 100-point plateau in each of his first two seasons as general manager (2014-15: 101 points). He is in his 15th season with Washington after serving as the team’s assistant general manager, player personnel for the previous seven seasons.