While Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is still understandably down after Vancouver was eliminated earlier this week, he did get some good news on Thursday. The league announced that he has won this year’s Jack Adams Award, given to “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success,” as selected by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association. Tocchet released the following statement on the team’s website:
"This really is a team award, and I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of our staff and complete buy-in from the players. I am truly honored and humbled by this achievement and look forward to getting back to work this summer as we continue to work on improving our hockey team. Vancouver is a passionate hockey market and our fans were a huge part of our success this season."
Tocchet had his first full season behind the Vancouver bench this season after taking over for Bruce Boudreau partway through the 2022-23 campaign. It was certainly a successful season on the ice for the Canucks as they took home the Pacific Division total with the third-most points (109) in franchise history, following a 50-23-9 effort. They became one of the stingier teams defensively, going from allowing 3.61 to 2.70 goals per game, good for a tie for fifth-fewest leaguewide.
Vancouver also had a fairly successful showing in the playoffs. In the Canucks' first playoff appearance since 2019-20 (and second since 2014-15), the Canucks overcame an opening-game injury to Thatcher Demko to get past Nashville in six games in the opening round. They then took Edmonton to a seventh and deciding contest, ultimately falling 3-2 back on Monday. Nevertheless, the Canucks winning the division and going two rounds into the playoffs wasn’t necessarily an outcome that many were expecting.
That thought held true in voting as Tocchet took home 82 of 114 first-place votes while landing in the top three on 109 ballots. That gave him a decisive victory over Nashville’s Andrew Brunette and Winnipeg’s Rick Bowness who finished second and third, respectively.
Tocchet becomes the third coach in Canucks history to take home the Jack Adams Award. The others were Pat Quinn in 1992 and Alain Vigneault back in 2007.
It will be the better part of a week before the next end-of-season award is announced. The King Clancy Memorial Trophy is next on the list with the winner of that one being revealed on Tuesday.
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