The Jack Adams Award, in layman's terms, is awarded to the head coach who has the biggest impact on his team's success. Generally, teams that weren't expected to have success or that have made a huge leap from the previous season are under consideration. An example would be a team making it to the postseason for the first time in a long time. Remember that statement.
The NHL announced the three finalists for the Jack Adams on Friday afternoon. And for the most part, the nominees make sense. But when you think about teams that may have proven people wrong or are ahead of schedule in where they are supposed to be, another team comes to mind. And that is the Philadelphia Flyers, a team no one expected to be competing in the second round of the playoffs, let alone making the postseason altogether.
Looking at the other nominees first, Lindy Ruff has the best case to take home the award. He took a Sabres team that had been the laughing stock of the NHL in previous years and turned them into Atlantic Division champions. They had one of the biggest year-to-year leaps, improving by 30 points from their finish last season. They haven't made the postseason since 2010-11. There's no doubt he is the favorite for this award.
Dan Muse, in his first season as an NHL coach, brought a Penguins team that many expected to fall off back into the conversation. They made an 18-point jump from a season ago, and that's while dealing with injuries to star players at key points in the season. He won't beat out Ruff, but his case makes sense.
And then there's Jon Cooper. He's a great head coach, and Tampa Bay is typically always in the conversation as one of the better teams in the NHL. However, the Lightning only posted four more points this season (106) than last year. Sure, you can say that they "overachieved" because of injuries to key players. But it's not like the Lightning haven't been good in recent years. The last time they failed to make the playoffs was 2016-17.
Rick Tocchet snubbed in Jack Adams voting despite tremendous turnaround
Rick Tocchet, in his first season with the Flyers, helped the team make a massive 22-point leap from last season. They qualified for the postseason for the first time since the 2020 bubble. They finished 16th in the East and 29th in the league last season. And now, they were eighth in the East and 11th in the league.
Other numbers point to their improvement as well. Last season, they allowed 3.45 goals per game. They made a massive jump, allowing only 2.91 this season. That was ninth in the league. They improved slightly in goals scored per game, jumping from ninth-worst to near the middle of the pack. They also allowed the fourth-lowest amount of shots per game, a moderate jump from eighth.
Eight players in the NHL posted over 100 points this season. The highest a Flyers' player finished was 68, and that was Travis Konecny, 55th in the league. The highest goal total in the league was 53 by Nathan MacKinnon. Konecny was the Flyers' highest scorer with 27 goals. If you're curious, that was 61st in the league.
Philadelphia doesn't boast much high-level talent. That's just a fact. But under the direction of Tocchet, they stormed to the finish line, posting one of the best records in the league after the Olympic break. They forced themselves into the conversation when almost no one expected them to be here yet.
This isn't an award for who is simply the best coach in the NHL. If that were the case, coaches like Cooper, Jared Bednar, and Rod Brind'Amour would be perennial nominees. They coach teams that are generally contenders every season because of the star talent they have.
The city of Philadelphia sees what Tocchet has done with his team. Maybe the NHL will eventually as well.
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