Lightning’s Julien BriseBois finishes second in general manager of the year voting

For the second time in his career, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois fell just short in voting for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.

Joe Sakic of the Stanley Cup champion Avalanche was announced as the winner during the NHL draft Thursday night in Montreal.

The award is presented annually to the general manager “who best excelled at his role during the regular season.” Votes were cast after the second round of the playoffs by the league’s GMs, as well as a panel of NHL executives and print and broadcast media.

Sakic received 109 points, including 16 first-place votes. BriseBois had 87 points and 12 first-place votes. The other finalist, Chris Drury of the Rangers, got 53 points and four first-place votes.

Under Sakic, the Avalanche put together the best regular season in franchise history (119 points). They continued their success in the postseason, going 12-2 over the first three rounds to advance to the Cup final, where they beat the Lightning in six games to claim their first title in more than two decades.

Sakic, who hired head coach Jared Bednar, drafted defensemen Cale Makar and Bowen Byram and right wing Mikko Rantanen, and acquired forwards Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakowski and Valeri Nichushkin and defenseman Devon Toews in previous seasons, added to the team’s talent over the past year.

He picked up goaltender Darcy Kuemper in a trade and signed center Darren Helm as a free agent last offseason, then dealt for defenseman Josh Manson, left wing Artturi Lehkonen and center Andrew Cogliano at the deadline.

“It’s a team effort, really,” Sakic told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. “We have such a great staff, and I give the players, the coaching staff, when you talk team, our group from day one, they became a team and they had the same goal in mind, didn’t let anything affect them and they just believed in each other and had that commitment, and it was really impressive to watch them.”

BriseBois was the runner-up for the second time in three seasons. He also finished second in 2019-20, behind Lou Lamoriello of the Islanders.

BriseBois — who has proven adept at salary-cap gymnastics since taking over from Steve Yzerman as Lightning GM in 2018 — understood and addressed his team’s needs following back-to-back championship runs in 2020 and ‘21.

He had to replace the team’s entire third line after Blake Coleman left for Calgary in free agency, Barclay Goodrow was traded to the Rangers and Yanni Gourde was selected by Seattle in the expansion draft.

BriseBois was active in the offseason, reaching deals with veteran forwards Corey Perry and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, defenseman Zach Bogosian and veteran backup goaltender Brian Elliott. At the trade deadline, he added forwards Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul.

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All were key contributors to a postseason run that ended with the team’s third consecutive Stanley Cup final appearance.

Paul brought physicality, strong all-around play and clutch goals in big moments, including two in the series-clinching victory over the Maple Leafs in the opening round. Hagel, a goal-scorer with the Blackhawks, became an important part of the Lightning’s checking line as the postseason progressed.

Perry moved up to the third line and first power-play unit after Brayden Point was lost to a lower-body injury late in the first round. Bellemare centered the fourth line and made big contributions on faceoffs, as well as the top penalty-kill unit. Bogosian added depth to the blue line in the third pairing with Mikhail Sergachev.

Though the Lightning fell short of their goal of a third straight title, BriseBois has secured the team’s core — signing Point to a long-term extension last offseason as he did with captain Steven Stamkos, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, defenseman Victor Hedman and right wing Nikita Kucherov before that — and positioned it to make future runs at the Cup.

Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.

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