Jack Adams Trophy

[charlio lemieux]

This is basically judged on team performance, weighed against team expectations at the beginning of the season. If the team does better than expected the coach did a good job. If the team barely misses or gets to it's goal by a slim margin well hey he did good, it's sports and sometimes you get beat. If a team goes the way of Pittsburg, well Ed is an analyst again. Should the team blow away every expectation that was made of them, and excell to a point impossible to ignore. That coach, should be put up for coach of the year.

So with that in mind the Coach of the year is really a 3 horse race. I know there has been some great coaching done this year by several coaches across the league. Hitch in Philly has battled through injuries, Both Murray's in Ottawa and LA, Trotz, MacT, Babcock, Quennville, Lamoriello and Gainey, all deserve a mention. This year though there are 3 coaches who have had incredible success in the New NHL.

New York Rangers: Tom Renney
Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
Carolina Hurricanes: Peter Laviolette

Here we have the teams who are League Points leader, the Eastern Conference Leader, two Division leaders, and Buffalo has the 5th best record in the league. I doubt there is 10 people in North America who picked all three to be in the playoffs, let alone be at the top of the league. All three have succeeded beyond anyones imagination, and deserve the credit.

So which one should win the Jack Adams and why?

[charlio lemieux]

Lundy Ruff - All three had great goaltending this year but Buffalo seems to have done it with less talent up front.

[LiAmTrAnSdEmOn]

Buffalo had some nice talent, but no one expected Carolina to be winning their division, let alone leading the league in points. Staal has been great but there have been many others that have stepped it up due to some great coaching. Erik Cole, Rod Brind'Amour, Matt Cullen, Justin Williams, Cory Stillman. Almost all of the defense has been outstanding and they are serious contenders for the Cup. If anyone had said that Carolina would be doing what they're doing right now, they would be reamed out for it.

[MadDevil]

To me this is a no-brainer. Peter Laviolette is an underated coach, and deserves a lot of credit for the Hurricanes being at the top of the league. I know that nobody probably expected any of these three teams to be where they are, but I think of all three Laviolette has done the better job.

I wonder if Mike Milbury is regretting firing a man who took a crappy Islanders organization to the playoffs twice in a row, and now has the Canes among the league's best teams?

[LiAmTrAnSdEmOn]

Mike Milbury probably regrets a lot of things.

[Newfie John]

I agree with MD. Peter Laviolette.

[a4l]

Renney, somebody has to vote for him.

[leaferfan87]

Laviolette, I expected the Canes to be that much worse than the Rangers this season.