The National Hockey League announced the three finalists for the 2024 Jack Adams Award. Rick Bowness of the Winnipeg Jets, Andrew Brunette of the Nashville Predators, and Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks were named the 2024 finalists earlier today.
The winner of the award, which is given annually to the coach who is considered the best for that season in the NHL will receive the award at the 2024 NHL Awards show.
Bowness led the Winnipeg Jets to a 2023-24 season record of 52-24-6. The 69-year-old coach pushed the Jets to a second-place finish in the Central Division and improved the team by 15 points (95 to 110) from his debut 2022-23 season. The Jets also allowed the fewest goals in the NHL this season with just 199 goals against. The Jets’ 52 wins are tied for the most in franchise history and the 110 points are the second most in the franchise history behind their 114-point finish in 2017-18.
Unfortunately for Bowness, he missed four games from March 19-24 due to a minor medical procedure. The Jets would post a win-loss record of 1-3-0 during this absence. Bowness would miss more time earlier in the season, 11 games exactly as his wife, Judy, suffered a seizure. The Jets posted a win-loss record of 9-2-2 during that time.
Bowness’ career spans all the way back to April of 1984 when he was hired as an assistant coach for the original Winnipeg Jets. Bowness would later become the head coach of the team in February of 1989. A four-decade long career that spans well over 2,700 games coached, Bowness has never been nominated for the award until this year.
Brunette was hired in May by the Nashville Predators to become their new head coach. He ed the team to a 47-30-5 season record and the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. The 50-year-old coach guided Nashville to their franchise-record 18 game point streak (16-0-2) which spanned from February 17th to March 26th.
Brunette was the runner-up for the 2022 Jack Adam Award when he guided the Florida Panthers to the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best record in the NHL.
Tocchet’s first full season as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks was impressive. They finished with a 50-23-9 season record and finished first place in the Pacific Division which was also their first division title in 10 years. The Canucks improved by 12 wins and 26 points from their 2022-23 season.
Tocchet is a first time finalist, but would be the third Ccanucks coach to win the the award. The last Vancouver coach to win the award was Alain Vigneault in 2006-07.
Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery won the Jack Adams Award in the 2022-23 season.
The NHL will announce the finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy tomorrow, Friday, May 3rd.
