NHL Predictions: 3 candidates to win the Jack Adams Award
As we inch closer to the start of the NHL season, theScore staff projects the contenders for the NHL Awards.
Winning the Jack Adams Award as the head coach who contributes the most to his team's success is all about exceeding expectations.
Patrick Roy won the award last year after guiding the Colorado Avalanche to the second seed in the Western Conference, a vast improvement from the team's last-place finish in the conference a season prior.
Like Roy with the Avalanche, 2011-12 Jack Adams winner Ken Hitchcock coached the St. Louis Blues to a second seed following an 11th-place finish.
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Other winners stabilized teams faced with adversity and reduced expectations. Paul MacLean earned the honor two seasons ago after leading the Ottawa Senators to the Eastern Conference's seventh playoff seed, despite losing all-world defenseman Erik Karlsson to serious injury midseason.
Here are three candidates to win the Jack Adams Award in 2015:
The Favorite: Jack Capuano, New York Islanders
Capuano isn't often mentioned in the best-coach-in-the-league discussion, but he has to be recognized as the favorite considering the upgrades the Islanders made in the inferior Eastern Conference.
The Islanders have a reliable starting goaltender (something they haven't been able to say for a while) in Jaroslav Halak. The veteran netminder has never appeared in more than 57 games in a season, but he's a big improvement over last year's trio of Evgeni Nabokov, Kevin Poulin and Anders Nilsson.
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New York is in even better position for a resurgent season with the return of captain John Tavares from a season-ending Olympic injury and the addition of forwards Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin in free agency.
The defense corps is now among the deepest in the conference after general manager Garth Snow added Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk in a pair of near-simultaneous trades on Saturday.
The Islanders should jump from 14th in the conference last season to a playoff berth this time around, making the award Capuano's to lose.
The Underdog: Peter DeBoer, New Jersey Devils
DeBoer and the Devils missed the playoffs by five points last season despite a 4-1-5 run to close out the campaign. They lost a league-high 13 shootouts (and won zero), with then-41-year-old goaltender Martin Brodeur appearing in 39 games.
Brodeur is out of the picture now, and Cory Schneider is ready to take the reins as the bona fide No. 1. The Devils also boast a new top-line winger in Mike Cammalleri, who scored 26 goals in 63 games last season.
If they can turn around their shootout misfortune, this team will have a legitimate chance to claim one of the final playoff spots in the East.
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DeBoer led the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, and while this year's edition isn't expected to go that far, they should improve enough to get him Jack Adams consideration.
The Dark Horse: Lindy Ruff, Dallas Stars
Ruff won the award in 2006 after leading the Buffalo Sabres to the Conference Final, where they lost in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
The Stars captured the eighth seed in the West last season, and they should take a significant step forward with an ever-maturing top line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Valeri Nichushkin. The addition of center Jason Spezza via trade and winger Ales Hemsky in free agency solidifies the team's top six.
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Goaltender Kari Lehtonen's health could determine whether the Stars continue to rise or regress, but if he plays 65 games like he did last season, Ruff's squad is primed to be one of the West's most dangerous teams.
A top-five finish in the conference should be enough to earn Ruff a Jack Adams Award nomination.