NHL News: 3 Finalists Named for Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are creeping closer to the second round as the NHL continues to announce the award finalists for all their major awards. On Friday it was the coach's turn as the Jack Adams award finalists were announced by the league including the likes of Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks, Andrew Brunette of the Nashville Predators and Rick Bowness of the Winnipeg Jets.

Rick Bowness, Andrew Brunette and Rick Tocchet are the three finalists for the 2023-24 Jack Adams Award.
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— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 3, 2024

The crazy part is there's been some rumblings about the Jets potentially making a coaching change thanks to a disappointing defeat at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche so it would be something for Bowness to be fired before winning the coach of the year.

Tocchet is a first timer on the final ballot. He led the Canucks to the Pacific Division crown in his first full season as the bench boss in Vancouver. The team went 50-23-9, an uptick of 12 wins from the previous season.

Brunette had a stellar season behind the bench of the Preds as nobody expected Nashville to be a playoff team this season. They went on an amazing 14-0-2 run in late February and into March and snuck themselves into the first round. Apparently cancelling a team trip to Vegas to watch the U2 concert in the Las Vegas' Sphere had big implications in their run. Brunette was a runner up of the award back in 2021-22 as the coach of the Florida Panthers.

Bowness on the other hand helped the Jets to a second place finish in the Central Division with a 52-24-6 record. The roster saw huge turnover and the expectations weren't very high league wide on well Winnipeg would do this season, Bowness made sure to quiet the noise.

Last season's Jack Adams award went to Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins after their historic regular season.