Each season, the Jack Adams Trophy goes to the best coach in the NHL. This week’s NHL Power Rankings takes a look at the top five candidates in the 2018-19 season.
The NHL hands out a variety of awards. Perhaps none of them are as subjective and questionable as the Jack Adams Trophy. This award goes to the best coach in the NHL. This week’s NHL Power Rankings will try to sort through the candidates in the 2018-19 season.
One issue with the Jack Adams is no one knows how to evaluate coaching. How much of a team’s improvement is on the players and general manager? And how much credit does the head coach deserve?
Every coach who has won the award from 2010-11 to 2015-16 is no longer with the team that they won it with. Joel Quenneville has won as many Jack Adams Trophies as Patrick Roy. These two facts alone should tell you the way coaches are evaluated is flawed.
So, who are the candidates of the most subjective and controversial award?
Honorable Mentions
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Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins deserves some love. There’s a lot of good candidates this year. Sadly, Sullivan’s likely around the sixth-best at best. He does a great job keeping the Penguins level-headed. There’s no way Sullivan wins, but a hat tip to him for another quality job done so far.
Phil Housley is a popular candidate, but I’m not sold on the Buffalo Sabres yet. He’s doing a good job for sure, but it’s not quite “Jack Adams good”. At least not to me. If the Vancouver Canucks finish close to (or in) the postseason, Travis Green warrants consideration. Quietly, Claude Julien of the Montreal Canadiens is doing a quality job.
5. Jim Montgomery, Dallas Stars
Jim Montgomery has done a great job in his first year with the Dallas Stars. He’s installed a much-needed culture of accountability. Montgomery gets some sympathy for me for having to deal with the Stars CEO’s comments.
The case for: He wasn’t dealt a full deck of cards to start the year. General Manager Jim Nill didn’t do much to change up the flawed roster from last year. Despite this and the Stars CEO publicly calling out the team’s two best players, Montgomery has the team in the playoff hunt.
Colorado’s recent struggles have the Stars in third place in the Central Division. That’s certainly a boost to Montgomery’s case.
The case against: The Stars have to play way better on the road. I’m not sure how much of that is on Montgomery, but at least part of it is.
4. Todd Reirden, Washington Capitals
Imagine how it feels to be in Todd Reirden’s shoes. The Washington Capitals appointed him the replacement of the guy who just won the Stanley Cup. All eyes have been on him and he has the Caps performing at an extremely high level.
The case for: Reirden was the associate head coach, so his transition to head coach was smoother than most. However, it hasn’t been all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns for him. The Capitals have dealt with numerous injuries and a bit of a Stanley Cup hangover (literal and figurative). Reirden has done a great job keeping a team who knows how meaningless the regular season is focused.
The case against: Reirden’s critics are going to say the same thing Cooper’s critics are saying. Coaching Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, Braden Holtby, Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson, and Evgeny Kuznetsov is seen as an easy thing, for some odd reason.
Also, people aren’t going to care how the Capitals do in the regular season. It’s all about the postseason. Which, unfortunately for Reirden, isn’t factored in the Jack Adams. All he has to do to be taken seriously as a head coach is win the Stanley Cup. Good luck, Todd!
3. Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning
I’ll be surprised if Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning is taken seriously as a Jack Adams candidate. However, he’s extremely deserving because all the guy has done throughout his career is get the most out of his guys.
The case for: You could argue this is the best job Cooper has done. The Lightning have been winning even without Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ondrej Palat, and Victor Hedman. That’s the sign of great coaching.
Cooper has long been overlooked. This is a mighty good year to start realizing how great he is.
The case against: Critics will point out how stacked the Lightning are. He’s got a Hart Trophy contender (Nikita Kucherov), the reigning Norris Trophy winner (Hedman), a dark horse Norris candidate (Ryan McDonagh), and a Vezina Trophy finalist from last season (Vasilevskiy).
2. Barry Trotz, New York Islanders
Man, the narrative for Barry Trotz is going to be a mighty strong one. After leaving the Capitals following their Stanley Cup win, he has the New York Islanders playing way better than anyone thought.
The case for: Trotz took a team that was the worst team in the NHL defensively in 2017-18 and turned them into arguably the best. Not much else needs to be said than that.
The case against: There are some likely unsustainable numbers that could tail off in the second half of the 2018-19 NHL season. Mitch Korn is great, but is he “turn Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss into the NHL’s best goaltending tandem” great? Probably not. He didn’t even do that in Washington with Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer.
Ultimately, Trotz’s narrative is going to be a hard one to stop. He’s been terrific for the Islanders. And, for better or for worse, Trotz fits the description of recent Jack Adams winners.
1. Bill Peters, Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames have taken the NHL by surprise, emerging as a true Stanley Cup contender. And they’re doing it with a starting goalie who has the nickname “Big Save Dave”.
Yup, Bill Peters deserves the Jack Adams.
The case for: The Flames have gone from being one of the worst scoring teams in the NHL to being one of the best. It’s hard not to credit Peters for that. He also has them playing very well defensively, as the Flames have overcome the struggles of Mike Smith. The Pacific Division hasn’t been a shining beacon of greatness, but the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights aren’t slackers.
The case against: Vegas and San Jose are going to push Calgary to the very end. If the Flames don’t win the Pacific, the Jack Adams, whether it’s fair or not, is likely Trotz’s to lose.