On the day of Game 2 of their first conference final appearance in 27 years, the New York Islanders had the pleasure of announcing their own guy, Lou Lamoriello, as one of three finalists for the Jim Gregory Award presented to the general manager of the year.
The other two finalists — Julien BriseBois of their foes, the Lightning, and Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars — also generally manage teams that are in the Stanley Cup semifinals. So this seems to be one of those awards that turns in part on how your team did in some playoff series that often can go either way.