Major snub as the Coach of the Year nominees are announced

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Matt Garland
May 19, 2022 (12:25)

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Today the NHL announced it's finalists for the 2021-22 season Jack Adams Award. The nominees this year are Andrew Brunette of the Florida Panthers, Gerard Gallant of the New York Rangers, and Darryl Sutter of the Calgary Flames.

The Jack Adams Award is an annual award presented by the NHL Broadcasters' Association to "the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." The winner is determined by a poll among the association's members at the end of the regular season.

Brunette could win the award while still having the Interim Head Coach job title. He was named Interim Head Coach on October 29, 2021. Their previous coach Joel Quenneville resigned a day earlier. When he took over the team they were still undefeated on the season, averaging over 4 goals a game. As the head bench boss the Panthers finished with a 51-18-6 record winning the Presidents' Trophy. A huge number of Florida players experienced career-best seasons under the rookie head coach.

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 two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach has nearly 800 total wins under his belt but has never won the trophy. He has only ever been a finalist for the award once in 2004 during his first go-round in Calgary. The Flames experienced a huge turnaround under his watch, going from a .491 winning percentage last season, to a .677 and first place in the division this year. The Flames got career best seasons from their best players in Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Elias Lindholm. It was the buy-in on the defensive end that Sutter is so known for, that resulted in the Flames allowing just 206 goals against, third best in the league.

A couple coaches that might be feeling a bit snubbed today are Colorado Avalanche's Jared Bednar and Toronto Maple Leafs', Sheldon Keefe.

Bednar led the Avs to a 56-19-7 record, this is a franchise record for the Avalanche with the most points they have ever tallied in a regular season. That record was good enough for first place in the Central Division, and second-best in the whole league. At home, where Bednar controlled the matchup advantage, the Avs only lost five games in regulation, the lowest amount of home regulation losses in the league.

With Keefe leading the bench Toronto finished second in the Atlantic Division with 115 points this season. Its .701 points percentage in the standings was the highest in franchise history. A number of Leaf's had career seasons like star players Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.