Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan finishes eighth in Coach of the Year voting.
With the Stanley Cup Playoffs inching closer to their conclusion, the results for the NHL Awards have started to trickle out. The Jack Adams Award, given to the league’s best coach as voted on by the NHL Broadcaster’s Association, has been awarded to Calgary Flames bench boss Daryl Sutter. Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan finished eighth in voting with two first-place votes and three second-place votes.
The Penguins finished the regular season with a 46-25-11 record and third place in the Metropolitan Division. Sullivan led the Penguins to over 100 standings points for the fifth time in his seven years behind the bench and a seventh straight playoff appearance.
Despite being hampered by injuries from game one of the season onward, the Penguins were still able to find success. Both star centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin missed the beginning of the year as well as players like Jason Zucker and Bryan Rust, who missed extended periods throughout the year. It was Sullivan's system and the buy-in of the players that kept the Penguins afloat this season.
This season was a year of records for Sullivan, who passed Dan Bylsma as the all-time winningest coach in Penguins history with a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks back in October. Sullivan passed Bylsma again in the postseason with his 44th playoff victory, making him the franchises winningest playoff coach.
The one thing Bylsma still holds over Sullivan is that elusive Jack Adams Award. Bylsma won the award back in 2010-11, a season similar to this year as both Malkin and Crosby missed extensive time due to injuries. That year's Penguins team finished tied for first in the Atlantic Division but blew a 3-1 series lead in the first round of the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Despite being thought of as the front-runner at the midpoint of the season, Sullivan was not even named a finalist for the award once again.
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