Anonymous NHL poll: Who do agents, execs, and players think deserves the Jack Adams Award?
At the halfway mark of the 2025-26 NHL season, the standings couldn’t really get much closer. Few teams have established themselves as true contenders, and in the Eastern Conference specifically, teams currently out of a playoff spot are short winning streaks away from finding themselves in one.
As a result, the race for the Jack Adams Award — bestowed annually on the league’s top coach as voted on by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association — is also a close one. There are a number of coaches who could have a case made for them, and passionate fans are more than willing to do just that. But what do the people working in the league think?
To find out, we anonymously polled a mixed group of 10 NHL players, agents, and executives. Here are the results. One quick note: We didn’t specify that they had to pick just one coach, and multiple respondents gave two or three answers, in no particular order.
Lots of love for Bednar and Cooper
“I don’t know how you can’t give it to one of [Jared] Bednar or [Jon] Cooper,” one player (who we should mention has never played for either coach) said. “The fact Coop hasn’t won one is crazy when you think about it. He’s a big part of that team’s success and has been for a long time. Same with Bednar. I’m between those two, and if I have to choose, I say Cooper because I think he has the worse team.”
Cooper’s Tampa Bay Lightning currently sit in the top spot of both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. They’ve faced a number of injuries to this point of the season, and have more than stayed afloat. Their +34 goal differential is second only to the Colorado Avalanche, whose goal differential is at a whopping +70 at the time of this writing.
Bednar’s Avalanche have lost just four times in regulation this season. They have an .821 points percentage through 42 games and are ahead by 11 points in the overall standings over the second-place Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild, who each have 58.
“I mean, Bednar seems to be the obvious answer at this point, but the voters seem to like coaches who turn around bad teams,” one executive said. “I am voting Bednar but I could see Lindy Ruff winning it if the Sabres end their playoff drought.”
“Colorado is on another level, and Bednar is a big part of why. Easy choice,” said one agent.
The turnaround candidates
Now, we can’t ignore history in all of this, so let’s call a spade a spade here. The Jack Adams Award is oftentimes awarded to the coach whose team has improved the most from the previous season, and some of the coaches who fall into that category certainly earned some love from our voters.
“[Joel] Quenneville, Ruff, or maybe even [Patrick] Roy will win it,” said one agent.
“If the Sabres make the playoffs, their coach wins it,” added an executive.
The Buffalo Sabres‘ 14-season playoff drought is well-documented, and having won 11 of their past 12 games, there might not be a hotter team in hockey right now. Ruff may very well reap the rewards when voters submit their ballots at the end of this season if the Sabres are able to force their way into a playoff spot. At the time of this writing, they sit one point out of the second Wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
Similarly, Quenneville’s Anaheim Ducks sit right on the edge of the playoff bar in the West. Although they’ve been scuffling lately — they’ve gone 1-7-2 over their last 10 games — a hot start to the season has kept the young Ducks afloat to this point. Can Quenneville help the Ducks navigate out of this recent stretch? That will be a key question to ask down the stretch as we keep an eye on this race.
McLellan, Hynes, and Gulutzan
The Detroit Red Wings cannot be ignored. Currently sitting second in the Atlantic Division (third by points percentage), the Wings have been one of the NHL’s better stories this season. And as you may remember, McLellan wasted little time in impacting his team this season. After a 5-1 season-opening loss to the Montreal Canadiens, McLellan asked his players, “Are we tired of this yet?” and proceeded to pull no punches in his post-game media availability.
“The players will say — they probably have already said to you — that, ‘You know what? We can fix this. We can. When? It’s time. Some of them have been doing it for years. It’s time,” McLellan said.
The Red Wings then rattled off five straight wins and haven’t really looked back since. McLellan’s players love him (though none was included in our poll). His bluntness with his players and in the media after their season-opening loss is one of the few moments when we get to peek behind the curtain and see a coach’s words clearly affect his team’s performance.
And speaking of coaches well-liked by their players, who could ignore the work John Hynes and Glen Gulutzan have done behind their respective teams’ benches? Hynes’ Minnesota Wild and Gulutzan’s Dallas Stars are tied with each other at 58 points for second in the overall standings. Both teams qualified for the playoffs last year, which is likely why they’re getting less buzz, but both Hynes and Gulutzan absolutely deserve mention in this year’s Jack Adams conversation.
Voting Total
Jared Bednar: 7 of 10 respondents mentioned Bednar.
Jon Cooper: 7 of 10 respondents mentioned Cooper.
Lindy Ruff: 5 of 10 respondents mentioned Ruff.
Todd McLellan: 4 of 10 respondents mentioned McLellan.
Glen Gulutzan: 4 of 10 respondents mentioned Gulutzan.
John Hynes: 3 of 10 respondents mentioned Hynes.
Joel Quenneville: 2 of 10 respondents mentioned Quenneville.
Dan Muse: 2 of 10 respondents mentioned Muse.
Rod Brind’Amour: 2 of 10 respondents mentioned Brind’Amour.
Rick Tocchet: 2 of 10 respondents mentioned Tocchet.
Patrick Roy: 1 of 10 respondents mentioned Roy.
Martin St. Louis: 1 of 10 respondents mentioned St. Louis.
In Conclusion…
Could this be the year we see one of the coaches behind the bench of one of the NHL’s regular contenders win the Jack Adams Award? Or will it once again be a “most improved team award,” as one agent put it?
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