NHL Award Races: Ken Hitchcock running away with Adams, but what about GM?

Stephen Weiss is one of the rare faces left from when Tallon arrived two years ago. (Getty Images)

Welcome to Award Races. For every week the remainder of the season, we will break down two of the awards races at a time and see how they are stacking up as the NHL season hits the home stretch.

It's back to the architects for the final time this season this week, the guys who don't play but impact the results either from the bench or the front office.

Let's just cut to the chase on the Jack Adams. It's going to St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, plain and simple. Argue the merits of every other coach for second, that's fine by me, but I can't foresee any scenario where Hitchcock doesn't win it.

So instead I'm going to spend my time talking about the general managers mostly. And I just can't get over the fact that I feel Dale Tallon is a shoe-in for this award.

Are the Panthers on the way to being the worst division winners in eons? Absolutely. But let's repeat a few key words in that last sentence again. The Panthers ... division winners. I could say game, set and match with that alone. That's never been done in franchise history, so right now beggars can't be choosers.

Tallon set out with just about half of the salary floor in committed money before last summer's draft and not enough players on one-way deals to fill an active roster. Obviously there was some work to be done from there.

Did he build a world-beater roster? Absolutely not. Did he put together a team full of quality NHL players that can compete? I think that has been answered. He was criticized for a lot of the signings he made, overpaying for some guys to be sure. But would anybody say that signing Tomas Fleischmann, Jose Theodore, Marcel Goc and Sean Bergenheim haven't worked out well?

The fruits of his labor aren't supposed to be seen for a few years yet as the Panthers are stocked with a loaded farm system that Tallon has assembled, that's partly why Tallon put together a roster now of veteran players, guys who don't all fit into a long-term plan but fit the short-term plan to win and eventually help bring in the youngsters.

Simply put, I don't think any other GM's moves in the last year had a bigger positive impact than Tallon in Florida.

Remember, this is just one man's opinion. You have your opinions too, share them below (as if you needed that invitation).

Award watch
Jack Adams		Top GM
Ken Hitchcock	I have seen people making arguments for other coaches, but it's in vain. No way Hitch isn't running away with this. He took over after the season began and he has a Presidents' Trophy in site. His team is shattering records as far as goaltending and defense go too. The race is for second.	Dale Tallon	Another good thing Tallon did: Hire Kevin Dineen, one of the most promising AHL coaches out there. You'll see Dineen elsewhere in this week's post. Making the playoffs in Florida is worthy of some kind of recognition, so this is it. Oh, and bonus points for getting rid of Florida's alternate blue jersey.
Kevin Dineen	I don't know if anybody had a tougher task than Dineen before the season. First-year NHL coach taking over a franchise that only knows losing and a team where the majority of players began 2010-11 in another uniform. The result looks like it will be the franchise's first division championship.	David Poile	The narrative with Poile is no longer about him doing more with less. I think that's done. Instead it's about the fact that he has built a very good team with talented players, not guys who are under the radar any more. He hasn't really made a bad move all year and has helped give the Preds a shot at keeping Ryan Suter and Shea Weber.
Paul MacLean	Like Dineen, MacLean came into a situation with low expectations. Many pegged the Senators for the worst record in the league this season, but the rookie coach has them a few points from clinching a playoff spot. I give Dineen the edge since he didn't have the solid base comparable to Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson.	Doug Armstrong	Talk about a GM who hasn't made any bad moves in the last year. He has had the Midas touch if you will when it comes to pulling the trigger. The two most notable obviously were hiring Hitchcock and signing Brian Elliott in the offseason. I think those two worked out well.
John Tortorella	Torts has done an excellent job with the Rangers this season, no doubt. He has taken what many thought was a borderline playoff team to the cusp of the best record in the Eastern Conference, possibly in the whole league. Other than Hitchcock, there is no team that better personifies their coach in their game play.	Don Maloney	I said the narrative of doing more with less didn't apply to Poile anymore. Well it does for Maloney. Every season his team is written off because of the hurdles they face financially but also the lack of any big names. Yet the 'Yotes are one point out of a playoff spot at the moment. Getting Mike Smith to replace Ilya Bryzgalov was the big-winner move.
Glen Gulutzan	There was probably no coach hiring last summer that made more people ask "Who?" other than Gulutzan. By now they should know his name, though. He has been able to find some good line combinations this season which have, among other things, contributed to Michael Ryder scoring 35 goals so far and have the Stars atop the Pacific for the moment.	Ray Shero	This isn't about the superstars, the Penguins were fortunate (or bad) enough to draft those guys many years ago. Instead it's about all the complementary moves, such as signing James Neal to a very reasonable deal long-term or getting Pascal Dupuis as one of the biggest bargains in the league.