In what is likely a precursor for the winner of the Jack Adams and the newly minted GM of the Year awards, Phoenix Coyotes coach Dave Tippett and GM Don Maloney have been named by the Sporting News as the 2009-10 Coach of the Year and the 2009-0 Executive of the Year, respectively.
For the player awards, which were handed out to Henrik Sedin (top player), Ryan Miller (best goaltender) and Tyler Myers (top rookie), Sporting News polled 363 NHL players, coaches and executives. It’s tough to say that these player awards will reflect the Hart, Calder and Vezina winners since a different pool of voters take part in the NHL awards, but for the coach and executive awards it’s nearly the exact same voters casting their picks.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Tippett and Maloney won, as both did an incredible job in turning around a disorganized and mediocre Phoenix Coyotes team. From the team press release:
Maloney, in his third season as General Manager of the Coyotes, hired head coach Dave Tippett prior to the season and together they guided the Coyotes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2002 by posting a 50-25-7 record for 107 points while setting franchise records for wins, points and home wins (29) in a season.
Hired nine days before the start of the regular season, Tippett helped the Coyotes post an NHL-best 28-point gain over its 2008-09 total, edging Colorado’s 26-point improvement. The Coyotes ranked third in the NHL in team defense (2.39 goals per game), up from 24th in 2008-09 (3.04), and were sixth in the League in penalty killing (84.5%).