Bruce Cassidy, John Tortorella and Alain Vigneault were named finalists for the Jack Adams Award on Wednesday.
The award, voted on by members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association, is given annually to the coach voted as best in the NHL. The winner will be announced during the conference finals.
Cassidy coached the Boston Bruins to the best record in the NHL (44-14-12, .714 points percentage) and the Presidents’ Trophy as the top regular-season team. Boston was eight points ahead of the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division, the largest amount for any division leader, when the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The Bruins won the Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the NHL (167, 2.39 per game) and tied the Philadelphia Flyers for the seventh-most goals (227, 3.24 per game). They were second to the Edmonton Oilers in power-play percentage (25.2) and third in penalty-killing percentage (84.3). Cassidy was a finalist for the award in 2017-18.
Boston will play the Lightning (.657), Washignton Capitals (.652) and Flyers (.645) in the round-robin of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to determine the top four seeds into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East.
Tortorella guided the Columbus Blue Jackets (33-22-15, .579 points percentage) to a berth in the Qualifiers. Columbus overcame injuries to numerous players throughout the season, including forwards Josh Anderson, Cam Atkinson and Oliver Bjorkstrand, defensemen Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, and goalie Joonas Korpisalo. The Blue Jackets were fourth in goals-against per game (2.61) and twice had point streaks of at least 10 games (8-0-4 from Dec. 9-Jan. 2; 9-0-1 from Jan. 11- Feb. 7). Tortorella, a two-time Jack Adams Award winner (2017-18 Blue Jackets; 2003-04 Lightning) and a finalist for the award for the fifth time, could join Pat Burns (1988-89 Montreal Canadiens; 1992-93 Toronto Maple Leafs; 1997-98 Bruins) as the only coaches to win it three times.
The Blue Jackets, the No. 9 seed, will play the Maple Leafs (36-25-9, .579), the No. 8 seed in one of eight best-of-5 Qualifier series with the winner advancing to the playoffs.
Vigneault coached the Flyers to the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference (41-21-7) and a berth in the playoffs in his first season. Philadelphia tied Tampa Bay for seventh in goals-against per game (2.77) after ranking 29th in 2018-19 (3.41) and was seventh in goals-scored per game (3.29) after finishing 18th in 2018-19 (2.94). The Flyers had four winning streaks of at least four games and won nine straight from Feb. 18-March 7). A five-time finalist, Vigneault won the award with the Vancouver Canucks in 2006-07.
Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk praised Vigneault’s approach to the qualifiers after a four-month pause in the season.
“I think the biggest thing with him as far as any coach I’ve played for at any level, he lets other people do their job. For this we’re coming back and want to be in a position where we’re peaking at the right time so he’s leaning on the sports science staff as far how long we practice, how hard we practice, when to push a little bit harder, when to pull back and give us some time to recover,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think because of all that he uses all the tools that are available to him He’s been really smart about that stuff. As players we have ton of confidence in what he wants us to do and it’ll help us be prepared and ready to play as we go thought this process and get to Toronto and start playing games.”
Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders won it last season.
The 2020 NHL Awards were scheduled for June 18 in Las Vegas but were postponed March 25.
Deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman contributed to this reportÂ
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