NHL Awards: Can anyone top Tocchet as the betting favorite to win the Jack Adams Award?
When NHL pundits were making their cases ahead of the 2023-24 season for which head coach would win the next Jack Adams Award, Rick Tocchet didn't come up in many discussions. The Hockey News certainly didn't list him as a top-five candidate back in September before the season started. (Although, to be fair, they had Mike Babcock listed as a Jack Adams hopeful and the Columbus Blue Jackets sent him packing before he could coach a single game for them.)
Tocchet is getting the last laugh as December draws to a close, now that he is the +190 favorite at DraftKings to win the award for best coach of the year — and rightfully so, given the Vancouver Canucks are topping the Pacific Division with a 23-10-3 record and have a top Norris Trophy candidate in Quinn Hughes.
Of course, there are a couple of other head coaches who have surprised critics through the first few months of the season and are making their cases to be worthy candidates as well. How short are their odds when it comes to the 2023-24 Jack Adams Award?
While listing Tocchet as the favorite is a no-brainer, it's also easy to see why John Tortorella and Peter Laviolette are right behind him at +800 each. The Philadelphia Flyers may have gone 31-38-13 in Tortorella's first season behind their bench but they have started their 2023-24 campaign 19-12-5 and have their best chances of getting back to the Stanley Cup playoffs since they lost in the conference semifinals in 2020. Laviolette, on the other hand, has impressed so far in his first season coaching the Blueshirts and has them leading the Metropolitan with a 25-9-1 record. If either of these coaches can get their team on a long winning streak, they could easily challenge Tocchet to be the betting favorite to win the Jack Adams.
You can't talk about Jack Adams hopefuls right now without talking about Todd McLellan. While he has been the Los Angeles Kings head coach since before the pandemic, he has L.A. on its best run yet. The Kings are third in the Pacific Division with a 20-8-5 record, but they are the league's leading road team at 13-2-1. That alone puts him in the conversation with Tocchet and is likely why DK has him listed at +900 odds to win the Jack Adams.
The Hockey News didn't get it all wrong, however, They did round out their top-five list with Arizona Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny, who currently rounds out DK's favorites at +1000. The Desert Dogs have wallowed in mediocrity for years now, not making the playoffs since 2020 and not making it to the Western Conference Final since 2012. But Tourigny has this scrappy squad believing thanks to an 12-5-0 record at Mullet Arena. If the Coyotes can get on a winning streak, his Jack Adams odds are sure to improve.
Of course, there is a lot of regular-season hockey left. Any one of these Jack Adams hopefuls could challenge Tocchet to be the betting favorite. Or the Canucks could stay hot and Tocchet could run away with the whole dang thing. Maybe wait another month or two before putting your money down — this is one interesting awards race.
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