How much will the Coyotes' new additions move the needle in 2023-24? Ryan Kennedy and Mike Stephens discuss. Don Granato [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNzAxODIwMjg3MzI5NjY2/usatsi_19631543.jpg] Don Granato When voting for the Jack Adams Award, the members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association have a bit of a pattern. Technically, the award is given to "the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." Practically, the voters tend to favor familiar names who have been in the league awhile and who have engineered big year-over-year improvements. If past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, let's start our analysis of who will win the 2024 award by looking at the last 10 winners and how their teams improved in those winning seasons. - 2022-23: Jim Montgomery - BOS (1st year) +28 pts. - 2021-22: Darryl Sutter - CGY (2nd year) +30 pts. (2020-21 result from 56-game season pro-rated to 81 pts. over 82 games) - 2020-21: Rod Brind'Amour - CAR (3rd year) +19 pts. (2020-21 result from 56-game season pro-rated to 117 pts. over 82 games; 2019-20 result from 68 games pro-rated to 98 pts. over 82 games) - 2019-20: Bruce Cassidy - BOS (4th year) +10 pts. (2019-20 result from 70 games pro-rated to 117 pts. over 82 games) - 2018-19: Barry Trotz - NYI (1st year) - +23 pts. - 2017-18: Gerard Gallant - VGK (1st year) - debut season - 2016-17: John Tortorella - CBJ (2nd year) +32 pts. - 2015-16: Barry Trotz - WAS (2nd year) +19 pts. - 2014-15: Bob Hartley - CGY (3rd year) +20 pts. - 2013-14: Patrick Roy - COL (1st year) +45 pts. (2012-13 result from 48-game season pro-rated to 67 pts. over 82 games) The broadcasters submit their votes at the end of the regular season, which is probably part of the reason why we haven't seen a Stanley Cup-winning coach also capture the Jack Adams in the Salary Cap Era. The last time it happened was when John Tortorella won the championship with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04. Unlike the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, the broadcasters' votes remain private. So while the top three finalists for the award are named before the winner is announced, we never see a breakdown of the voting, and the full breakdown of the votes is never made public. Here's an oddity in Jack Adams voting over the last decade. Currently, the NHL's three longest-tenured coaches are Jon Cooper with the Lightning, Mike Sullivan with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jared Bednar with the Colorado Avalanche. Cooper and Sullivan are the only coaches in the Salary Cap Era to win back-to-back Stanley Cups, and Bednar is also a Cup champ. Yet none of the three has ever won a Jack Adams. So, factoring in what the broadcasters seem like they prioritize when casting their ballots, here's a look at five candidates who look like they could be in position to deliver an Adams-esque season in 2023-24. This season, one of those winners could actually find himself in the mix. 1. DON GRANATO, BUFFALO SABRES After more than a decade of spinning their wheels, the Buffalo Sabres look poised to snap the NHL's longest playoff drought. If it happens, Don Granato should receive plenty of acclaim for doing what Ralph Krueger, Phil Housley, Dan Bylsma, Ted Nolan and Ron Rolston could not in the 13 years since Lindy Ruff got the Sabres to the dance back in 2011. That year, Buffalo had 96 points and a .585 points percentage. Last season, they finally got close to that level again. With a 16-point improvement, the Sabres finished at 91 points and .555. Loaded with talent both up front and on the blueline, the Sabres are fun to watch. And under Granato's watch, veteran leaders like Kyle Okposo and Alex Tuch have helped mold the group into a cohesive team where everyone is pulling in the same direction. If the Sabres can log another double-digit gain in points and punch that playoff ticket, Granato could be raking in the Jack Adams love at season's end. 2. MIKE SULLIVAN, PITTSBURGH PENGUINS If there's a silver lining to the Pittsburgh Penguins' first playoff miss in 17 years, it's Mike Sullivan's opportunity to register a significant move up the standings. Pittsburgh was regularly posting 100-point seasons even before Sullivan arrived midway through the 2015-16 season. He delivered two Stanley Cups instantly, then more solid regular seasons even when playoff series wins became elusive. The Penguins' best regular season under Sullivan came in the shortened 2020-21 campaign when they posted a .688 points percentage. One year later, they slipped to .628 before dropping to .555 last season — their lowest mark since Sidney Crosby's rookie year in 2005-06 (.354), the last time they missed the playoffs. With Kyle Dubas now in charge, the Penguins made significant moves during the off-season — most notably, adding Erik Karlsson, but also shoring up their secondary scoring with reliable forwards like Reilly Smith, Lars Eller and Noel Acciari. If Tristan Jarry stays healthy and the Pens surge back to the upper reaches of the Metropolitan Division, except Sullivan to get Jack Adams consideration for engineering the turnaround while simultaneously acknowledging his impressive nine-year run to date in Steel City. 3. PAUL MAURICE, FLORIDA PANTHERS It's rare for the Jack Adams voters to reward a coach for something he accomplished in a previous season. But Paul Maurice's first year with the Florida Panthers flew largely under the radar until their Cinderella playoff run. By the time the Panthers took their place in the spotlight in the Stanley Cup final, it had become clear that Maurice's legendary motivational skills had been in full effect since January. He willed his group into that last playoff spot, then they just kept going. If Maurice can keep his Cats at the level we saw last spring, he'll have two solid reasons to be in the Jack Adams mix. First — the Panthers have room to improve on their 92-point finish from last season. And second, their group was incredibly banged up after the long playoff run. Key players will be missing at the beginning of the year, and the others won't have had much time to recover and rebuild their bodies. That's a tough challenge to face. So as he approaches 30 years as an NHL head coach without a Jack Adams win to his name, Maurice will earn coach of the year consideration if he can continue to bring the best out of his boys in South Florida. 4. MIKE BABCOCK, COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS With a Stanley Cup from his time with the Detroit Red Wings and gold medals with Team Canada from two Olympics, the World Championship, world juniors and the World Cup of Hockey, Mike Babcock has won nearly everything there is to win in hockey. But he doesn't have a Jack Adams Award. And after three-and-a-half years away from the NHL scene, Babcock returns this fall as the coach of a Columbus Blue Jackets team that has nowhere to go but up. Plagued by injuries and chemistry issues, the Blue Jackets finished 31st last season with 59 points, 22 fewer than one year earlier. They were unlucky, too, with the league's worst PDO of .978, according to naturalstattrick.com [https://www.naturalstattrick.com/teamtable.php?fromseason=20222023&thruseason=20222023&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=all&loc=B&gpf=410&fd=&td=]. Get healthy Zach Werenski back into the lineup, add brand-new pairing Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson, and slot in Adam Fantilli at center, and the Blue Jackets should be much improved on the ice this season. Also, Babcock probably didn't forget how to coach while he was out of the spotlight — although he will need to motivate with a lighter touch than he has used in the past. The Blue Jackets are poised to make a big jump in the standings. If they can reach the playoff bar, Babcock's redemption tour could wrap with a coach of the year nod next summer. 5. ANDRE TOURIGNY, ARIZONA COYOTES While the Jack Adams voters like to reward coaches who are relatively new to a team, they're also cautious about anyone who doesn't have a substantial NHL resumé. Most past winners have coached in multiple markets before finally earning their awards. Like Granato, Andre Tourigny could be the exception to the rule if the Arizona Coyotes make a jump to playoff contention by next spring. On paper, the Coyotes might be the most improved team in the NHL this off-season. They've added depth on the blue line in Matt Dumba, Sean Durzi and Travis Dermott while bringing in Jason Zucker and Alexander Kerfoot up front. Clayton Keller has blossomed into a legitimate star. And the youth movement will be enhanced this fall with the arrival of Logan Cooley, who joins the likes of Dylan Guenther and Matias Maccelli. The Coyotes finished last season with a humble 70 points, but that was a double-digit improvement from one year earlier when they finished 31st overall with just 57. They'll need to add nearly 30 more points to get into the playoff picture next spring. But as the Seattle Kraken and New Jersey Devils showed last season, that's a challenge that's difficult but not impossible. And while they didn't win, both Dave Hakstol and Lindy Ruff were named Jack Adams finalists. If everything comes together for the Desert Dogs, Tourigny should get a good look for the Jack Adams in his third year behind an NHL bench.
