Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper has been named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award given to the NHL’s Coach of the Year. In his first full season as an NHL coach, Cooper led the Lightning to a 46-27-9 (101 points) record and a berth in the playoffs. (Photo/Susan Ferlita)
Cooper guided the Bolts to a second place finish in the Atlantic Division despite losing superstar Steven Stamkos for 45 games, his Captain and leading scorer Martin St. Louis being traded away, Ryan Malone being arrested and Vezina nominee Ben Bishop playing injured for most of the year.
Here is the release from the NHL:
Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings, Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning andPatrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche are the three finalists for the 2013-14 Jack Adams Award, presented to the head coach who has “contributed the most to his team’s success,” the National Hockey League announced today.
Members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association submitted ballots for the Jack Adams Award at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winner will be announced Tuesday, June 24, during the 2014 NHL Awards from Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. The 2014 NHL Awards will be broadcast by NBCSN in the United States and CBC in Canada.
Following are the finalists for the Jack AdamsAward, in alphabetical order:
Mike Babcock, Detroit Red Wings
Babcock led the Red Wings (39-28-15, 93 points) to their 23rd consecutive Stanley Cup Playoff berth, the longest active streak in North American professional sports. Detroit overcame a franchise-record 421 man games lost due to injury, headlined by the 37-game absences of star forwards Pavel Datsyuk andHenrik Zetterberg. The Red Wings used 38 players during the regular season, including nine who made their NHL debuts — the club’s highest figures in both categories since 1990-91. Babcock is a Jack Adams finalist for the second time, having placed third in 2007-08.
Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning
In his first full season behind the bench, Cooper guided Tampa Bay (46-27-9, 101 points) to a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division after the club placed 28th in the overall League standings in 2012-13. The coach of Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate in Norfolk when it captured the 2012 Calder Cup, Cooper successfully incorporated several young players into the Lightning lineup, as a League-high eight rookies appeared in at least 40 games — five more than any other club. The Lightning were 20-11-9 in one-goal games after ranking last in the NHL with a 5-12-4 mark the season before, and posted 21 road wins, one shy of the franchise record.
Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche
Roy lifted the Avalanche (52-22-8, 112 points) to a historic turnaround in his rookie season as an NHL head coach, helping the team finish third in the overall League standings after placing 29th in 2012-13. Colorado became the first club since the NHL expanded to 21 teams in 1979 to go from the bottom three to top three in a single season. The Avalanche matched a franchise record for wins, recorded the NHL’s best road mark (26-11-4), ranked fourth in the League in goals (250) and did not suffer a regulation loss when leading after two periods (35-0-3).
History
The award was presented by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association in 1974 in honor of the late Jack Adams, longtime coach and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings.
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