 | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | National Hockey League coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success."[1] |
| History | |
| First award | 1974 |
| Most wins | Pat Burns (3) |
| Most recent | Rick Tocchet Vancouver Canucks |
The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." The league's Coach of the Year award has been presented 48 times to 40 coaches. The winner is selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association at the end of the regular season. Five coaches have won the award twice, while Pat Burns has won three times, the most of any coach. The award is named in honour of Jack Adams, Hall of Fame player for the Toronto Arenas/St. Patricks, Vancouver Millionaires and original Ottawa Senators, and long-time Coach and General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings. It was first awarded at the conclusion of the 1973–74 regular season.
Jacques Demers is the only coach to win the award in consecutive seasons. Five coaches have won the award with two teams: Jacques Lemaire, Pat Quinn, Scotty Bowman, Barry Trotz, and John Tortorella have won the award twice, while Pat Burns is the only coach to win three times.[2] The franchises with the most Jack Adams Award winners are the Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes with four winners each, although the Coyotes had two winners in Winnipeg before they moved to Arizona. Bill Barber, Bruce Boudreau and Ken Hitchcock are the only coaches to win the award after replacing the head coach who started the season. Barber took over for Craig Ramsay during the Flyers' 2000–01 season, Boudreau replaced Glen Hanlon a month into the Capitals' 2007–08 season while Hitchcock replaced Davis Payne a month into the Blues' 2011–12 season. The closest vote occurred in 2006, when the winner Lindy Ruff edged out Peter Laviolette by a single point.[3]
- ^ "Jack Adams Award". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on December 23, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
- ^ Also, the only coach to win with three different teams.
- ^ "Thornton, Lidstrom, Ovechkin win at NHL awards". ESPN. June 23, 2006. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.