David Poile named finalist for GM of the Year for 3rd consecutive time

As the nominations continue to roll out for the 2012 NHL Awards, the Nashville Predators have their first representative heading to Las Vegas:

The players play and the coaches coach, but someone has to put all those pieces into place.

That person is the general manager, and three stood out from the rest of their peers this season. Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues, David Poile of the Nashville Predators and Dale Tallon of the Florida Panthers have been named the finalists for the 2012 General Manager of the Year Award.

--- NHL.com

This will be the third year in a row that Poile will be in the running for the relatively new honor. Don Maloney (Phoenix) won the first such trophy in 2010, while Vancouver's Mike Gillis won last year.

Given the summer veteran purge, rookie rebuild, trade deadline moves and the successful return of Alexander Radulov, will the third time be the charm for Poile? For more on the tumultuous year which has led the Nashville Predators to this point, check out Sam's profile of Poile's on-the-fly rebuild from a couple weeks ago.

Frankly, I don't know what else a GM could do to earn this award. It's time.