As we reach the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, it’s hard to envision a world where Rick Tocchet doesn’t win the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year.
Replacing Bruce Boudreau as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks midway through last season, most analysts saw Tocchet and the Canucks as a non-playoff team, hoping to improve on their 38-37-7 record and take another step in their rebuild. Instead, the Canucks have been one of the best team’s in hockey, spending most of this campaign as the No. 1 overall team in the league standings.
Going into the March 21 slate of games, Vancouver is 43-18-8 with 94 points, tied for second in league standings, first in the Western Conference and six points ahead of any team in the Pacific Division. If they win the division and clinch home ice through the playoffs, it has to be Tocchet’s award to lose.
But who else deserves some love? Rick Bowness has the Winnipeg Jets playing perfect defensive hockey; Paul Maurice has the Florida Panthers looking like they did on their Stanley Cup Final run last spring, and John Tortorella has taken a rebuilding Philadelphia Flyers squad and put them in a playoff position in late March.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the betting odds for the Jack Adams Award and if anyone other than Tocchet has a chance to win it.
Tyler Yaremchuk: When you look at the betting odds board, Rick Tocchet is running away with it at -500. But look at the two options at +2400, John Tortorella and Nashville Predators’ head coach Andrew Brunette.
When you compare them to what Tocchet’s done in Vancouver, and I know he’s brought in a “cultural reset” with his arrival and the impact he’s had in the room, but when you look at what Tortorella has been able to do with the roster he has in Philly, do you feel like he and Brunette aren’t getting enough love?
Frank Seravalli: No.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Oh, okay.
Frank Seravalli: Look, if Tocchet doesn’t win for turning a non-playoff team from last year into a team that’s competing for the Presidents’ Trophy, you might as well not give one out. One name I’m surprised not to see on the betting board is Spencer Carbery, because despite the goal-differential and a not-very-talented roster, that’s a great story.
Peter Laviolette and the New York Rangers have set a franchise record for the most days in first place in their division. I think the Tortorella story is great, but you get to this week where he healthy scratches Sean Couturier, and you’re losing me.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…
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