Jack Adams nominees

[2014olympicgold]

Usually goes to the biggest turn around, and if they all are turn arounds goes to the best team. I don't think Torts was the best coach, but i think he wins it.

[lucafen4]

I'm Babs on this one... if you asked me in Feb. it was Torts hands down. but down the stretch and especially the final 10-15 games of the season, they fell apart. Votes ere in at the end of the season where the CBJ went 1-7-1 or something like that and Tor clinched a playoff birth with 8 rookies & numerous other young, inexperienced players.

for that reason Babcock wins his 1st Adams (gotta think some voters are thinking about that too)

[Rodgort]

Is it weird that I do not like any? Well I guess Babs but all his team did was get a wildcard spot...

Torts - Was a product of Bobrovsky being amazing more than anything, well and that 16 game win streak but outside of that they were a just above a 500 team. Also once the CBJ PP stopped working nothing was done to fix it, was this voted on in January haha?

McLellan - Product of playing Talbot 70 games and the ability to play McJesus 22 minutes a game. Easy recipe for any coach

Babs - Yeah it makes sense. The leafs controlled a lot of the play and he has a great system. So if I HAD to vote for one of the three it be him.

But for real how do you not vote for:
Trotz - team only finished first again
Sullivan - massive amount of injuries but they still finished 2nd
Boucher (No I am not Big Ev I swear haha) - Ottawa was miles better this year, and had a bunch of injuries too. Anderson also played like 30 games and they still got in the playoffs! I would vote for him personally.
Boudreau - Minnesota was great and only faltered because Dubnyk forgot how to stop a puck. His team did the same thing as CBJ why isn't he up there?

I'd probably vote for all of them before I give the award tot he nominated 3

Oh Gulutzan probably deserves some love too, navigated that line up to the playoffs after a tough start

- - - Updated - - -

I'm Babs on this one... if you asked me in Feb. it was Torts hands down. but down the stretch and especially the final 10-15 games of the season, they fell apart. Votes ere in at the end of the season where the CBJ went 1-7-1 or something like that and Tor clinched a playoff birth with 8 rookies & numerous other young, inexperienced players.

for that reason Babcock wins his 1st Adams (gotta think some voters are thinking about that too)

ahhh I totally forgot a lot of the voters are Toronto based (Sundin first ballot hall of famer). So yeah, Babs will win

[2014olympicgold]

I wonder where Bill Peters finished on the list (Carolina's Coach)

[Pengwin7]

Babcock on the other hand was dealing with a team of rookies, who typically require a significant amount of coaching to adjust to the NHL. Not only that, but their defense core is not one envied by many if any. They struggled early with playing defense and holding down leads, but once Babcock managed to get them to understand the system and the defense fell in line, they were able to will their way into the palyoffs. Combine that with the scoring balance across the entire lineup, and to me it's no question that Babcock is the one who deserves it by a landslide. I don't think another coach would have been able to pull this off with the same group.

Nah.
The "team of rookies" was still better player talent than Babcock had last year.

For me, one of the truer measures of how the coach improved the team is to look at team shot differential.
As ericdaoust noted, Bobrovsky was really good (and that really helped the team) and also CBJ had a pretty high SH% (and that helped the team).
So lets wipe those things out and look at shot differential.

CBJ in 2015-2016: 29.1 shots/gp. 31.1 shots against/gp. -2.0 shot differential.
CBJ in 2016-2017: 31.0 shots/gp. 30.4 shots against/gp. +0.6 shot differential.

TOR in 2015-2016: 30.7 shots/gp. 30.5 shots against/gp. +0.2 shot differential.
TOR in 2016-2017: 31.9 shots/gp. 32.6 shots against/gp. -0.7 shot differential.

Both teams had an increase in shots per game played.
CBJ up by +1.9.
TOR up by +1.2.

But look at shots against.
CBJ trimmed -0.7 off their shots against.
TOR... added 2.1 on their shots against.

Overall, CBJ was 2.6 shot differential BETTER this year relative to last.
Overall, TOR was 0.9 shot differential WORSE this year relative to last.

I think people are all Babcock-is-a-god and overvaluing that TOR just barely held off TB & NYI for the final playoff spot. (An 84gp sched... or... Stamkos not-injured... or NYI not losing Okposo/Nielsen... and TOR finishes 10th...)
I like Babcock... and I think he did a good job. I do think he is a better overall coach than Torts.
And TOR was a better team in 2015-2016 than most people realized... they were much better than a 69pt team... I thought they were more like a 75-80pt team.

But, for this award, for this YEAR... Torts made greater strides with his team play (statistically evidenced - as noted - by shot differential comparison).
CBJ's SH% and Bobrovsky performance made them outstanding... 108pts.
But the team would've improved regardless.

And Babcock did a solid job with his group.
But don't go telling me the guys like Matthews, Nylander, Marner, Zaitsev...
just because they were rookies...
were somehow these inferior player group to coach... relative to Parenteau, Lupul, Laich, Matthias, Marincin etc.
C'mon.
Just c'mon.

[Mr. Guru]

How many games missed did Columbus have last year compared to this year?

I remember them being completely injured last year. I could be wrong.

[Pengwin7]

How many games missed did Columbus have last year compared to this year?

I remember them being completely injured last year. I could be wrong.

One certainly wouldn't be wise to use that argument if they think it could down-value Torts for having a "healthy" team (without hurting Babcock's case even more).
Toronto was perhaps the healthiest team in the league this year by least man-games-missed.

CBJ had 10 players play 70+gp in 2015-2016.
CBJ had 14 players play 70+gp in 2016-2017. It is true, they were one of the healthier NHL teams.

TOR had just 5 players play 70+ in 2015-2016. (As I said, TOR was a better team in 2015-2016 than their final point standings suggested.)
TOR had 15 players play 70+gp in 2016-2017. NINE players played all 82gp... I wouldn't be surprised if that was a league high.
http://www.espn.com/nhl/team/stats/_...pe/2/cat/games
http://www.espn.com/nhl/team/stats/_...pe/2/cat/games

[2014olympicgold]

One certainly wouldn't be wise to use that argument if they think it could down-value Torts for having a "healthy" team (without hurting Babcock's case even more).
Toronto was perhaps the healthiest team in the league this year by least man-games-missed.

CBJ had 10 players play 70+gp in 2015-2016.
CBJ had 14 players play 70+gp in 2016-2017. It is true, they were one of the healthier NHL teams.

TOR had just 5 players play 70+ in 2015-2016. (As I said, TOR was a better team in 2015-2016 than their final point standings suggested.)
TOR had 15 players play 70+gp in 2016-2017. NINE players played all 82gp... I wouldn't be surprised if that was a league high.
http://www.espn.com/nhl/team/stats/_...pe/2/cat/games
http://www.espn.com/nhl/team/stats/_...pe/2/cat/games

man games lost.jpg

Man games lost for each team in the NHL. Leafs behind CBJ I do believe.

[Kofax]

And Babcock did a solid job with his group.
But don't go telling me the guys like Matthews, Nylander, Marner, Zaitsev...
just because they were rookies...
were somehow these inferior player group to coach... relative to Parenteau, Lupul, Laich, Matthias, Marincin etc.
C'mon.
Just c'mon.

First of all, where did I say anything about these Toronto rookies being an inferior group to last years? I stated no such comparison, so you can put your "C'mons" away. All I am saying is that, typically, when a rookie comes into the NHL, they usually need more help and direction than veterans. Given how many rookies were on this team and how well they were able to do together, I think Babcock did a better job in terms of coaching.

I know how good they were, but it's kind of hard to say you know how a rookie is going to come in and perform. How do you know that these specific rookies were going to do well? Matthews maybe, but people weren't even sure Marner would make the team. How do you know if they would have performed similarly under a different coach? I don't think you can make the leap that Babcock had no effect on them just because they had a great season. I don't think anyone expected them to perform as well as they did this year.

Regarding Columbus and their shot differential improvement this year, I again refer to the significance of their injuries last season. Ryan Murray was their only defenseman to play over 65 games last year. Combine that with Bobrovsky's injuries, confidence issues and poor play and that is a significant reason that they performed so poorly and saw such a big change in shot differential during this season; they were barely able to ice an NHL defense core. Looking at the injuries, stats and Bobrovsky's track record, I don't think it should surprise anyone that they were a playoff team this year. As I said, 108 was not expected and was likely due to their 16 game run and some luck, but 90+ points and a playoff appearance was definitely in the cards.

I don't expect to change your mind and I'm not going to tell you to C'mon because you think Torts did a great job, because he did, and is deserving of accolades. He kept his mouth in check and turned in a great performance. But based on what I've seen and what I know about hockey, I think Babcock is the more deserving coach here, and that's my opinion, but I think there's enough evidence to back that up.

[doulos]

I think one need only look at the Oilers to see that coaching a young team of rookies can be an utter disaster if done poorly. Babcock did a stellar job there.

[Rylant]

I think one need only look at the Oilers to see that coaching a young team of rookies can be an utter disaster if done poorly. Babcock did a stellar job there.

I think it's interesting, that McLellan is nominated for coach of the year, and you are using him as an example to suggest how awesome Babcock did.

Rylant

[Kofax]

I think it's interesting, that McLellan is nominated for coach of the year, and you are using him as an example to suggest how awesome Babcock did.

Rylant

I think he's referring to how difficult it was for coaches to handle a team of rookies in Edmonton over the past however many years. McLellan wasn't working with a team of rookies.

[Mr. Guru]

Columbus injured big time last year. Healthy this year. Torts meh.

[doulos]

I think he's referring to how difficult it was for coaches to handle a team of rookies in Edmonton over the past however many years. McLellan wasn't working with a team of rookies.

This was indeed what I meant. See Dallas Eakins.

[Axeman33]

Torts had a Bobrovsky but didn't have a McDavid, or a Matthews. Oilers and Leafs had Talbot and Andersen. While Bobrovsky is in the race for the Vezina, both Talbot and Andersen could have been in there too.