Rick Tocchet Downplays Potential Jack Adams Award Nomination
Tocchet is the favourite to take home this year's Jack Adams Trophy.
Photo by Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports - Rick Tocchet Downplays Potential Jack Adams Award NominationAs the 2023-24 regular season comes to a close, the conversation surrounding year-end awards has intensified. Multiple Vancouver Canucks are projected to be finalists for individual awards, including head coach Rick Tocchet who is the betting favourite to win the Jack Adams Award given out to the NHL's top coach. Despite being the projected winner with a month left in the season, the Canucks coach is focused on the present and how best to prepare his team for the upcoming postseason.
Tocchet's name has been brought up consistently throughout the season for the historic award. He was the projected favourite in NHL.com's midseason trophy tracker and their most recent one, published on Mar. 11, 2024. If Tocchet does win the award, he would be the third coach in franchise history, following Pat Quinn in 1992 and Alain Vigneault in 2007.
Currently, Tocchet remains focused on the overall team's success. With 91 points through 66 games, Vancouver has all but clinched a playoff spot, with the focus shifting to securing home-ice advantage throughout the postseason and ensuring his team stays focused on the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup. When asked about the Jack Adams, here was Tocchet's response to the media:
"No, I'm not. Honestly, awards mean nothing to me right now, and I just see them for players. If you play well, you'll get the gratification. Okay, whatever you want after the season, but to me, if you start thinking that way, anybody, I'm chasing, you know, goalscoring, I'm chewing this; I'm trying to get career highs. That's when you play bad. So there's no difference for me. I'm not chasing anything. I just got to continue to be the day-to-day coach and get help from my coaches."
Fans will get plenty of opportunity to see the Canucks over the next few weeks as they are currently in a stretch of nine straight at Rogers Arena. Based on the schedule, they could clinch a spot in the postseason as early as mid-March, which would send Vancouver to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. On pace for the second-highest point total in franchise history, it is safe to say a few Canucks will be named finalists for NHL year-end awards by the end of the campaign.
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