Andrew Brunette of the Florida Panthers, Gerard Gallant of the New York Rangers, and Darryl Sutter of the Calgary Flames are the three finalists for the 2021-22 Jack Adams Award. The award, which is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association, is given “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour was last season’s winner.
The 2021-22 NHL Award winners will be revealed during the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final.
[NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2022 schedule, TV info]
The case for Andrew Brunette: After taking over a 7-0-0 Panthers team following Joel Quenneville’s resignation, Brunette guided the franchise to its first Presidents’ Trophy with a 58-18-6 (122 points) record. Florida also set franchise records in wins, home wins, and goals for (340). Brunette joins Quenneville and Doug MacLean as Panthers head coaches who have been voted as Jack Adams finalists. He is looking to become the franchise’s first winner of the award.
The case for Gerard Gallant: In his first year in New York, Gallant led the Rangers to a 52-win season and seventh-best point total (110) in the NHL. The improved defense saw their goals allowed per game average drop from 2.77 (13th overall) to 2.49 (second overall) this season. Opponents scored two or fewer goals 45 times and Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev recorded a combined nine shutouts. This is Gallant’s third time as a Jack Adams finalist with his third different team (Florida, 2016; Vegas, 2018). He won it in 2018 with the Golden Knights and is looking to become the first coach in Rangers history to win the award.
The case for Darryl Sutter: During Sutter’s first full season back behind the bench in Calgary, he guided the Flames to a Pacific Division title and a 56-point improvement from 2020-21. They posted a 50-21-11 record and improved in goals per game (2.77 to 3.55) and goals against per game (2.86 to 2.51). This is Sutter’s second time as a Jack Adams finalist. The last time he was up for the award was 2003-04 during his first tenure with the Flames. Bob Hartley is currently the franchise’s only winner of the award after taking it home in 2014-15.
Finalists for the 2021-22 King Clancy Memorial Trophy will be announced on Thursday.
NHL Award finalists announcement schedule:
Norris Trophy: Victor Hedman, Roman Josi, Cale Makar
Vezina Trophy: Jacob Markstrom, Juuse Saros, Igor Shesterkin
Calder Trophy: Michael Bunting, Moritz Seider, Trevor Zegras
Hart Trophy: Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Igor Shesterkin
Ted Lindsay Award: Roman Josi, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid
Masterton Trophy: Zdeno Chara, Kevin Hayes, Carey Price
Selke Trophy: Aleksander Barkov, Patrice Bergeron, Elias Lindholm
Lady Byng Trophy: Kyle Connor, Jaccob Slavin, Jared Spurgeon
Friday, May 20: King Clancy Memorial Trophy
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.