Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins, Lindy Ruff of the New Jersey Devils and Dave Hakstol of the Seattle Kraken have been named the finalists for the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach for the 2022-23 season, the NHL announced Friday.
Montgomery, 53, guided the Bruins to a dominant Presidents’ Trophy-winning season, setting NHL records for wins (65) and points (135). It was the Montreal native’s first season with the Bruins, after a previous stint coaching the Dallas Stars and as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues.
In his third season with the Devils, Ruff led the team to a 52-22-8 record, good for 112 points and second in the Atlantic Division, a 49-point improvement on the previous season. Ruff, 63, survived chants early in the season by Devils fans of “Fire Lindy!” after a slow start, but won fans back during a 13-game winning streak in November to the point they were chanting “Sorry, Lindy!” Ruff, a Warburg, Alberta, native, has coached in the NHL since 1997-98, winning the Jack Adams in 2005-06 while with the Buffalo Sabres.
Hakstol, 54, coached the Kraken to a second-year improvement of 40 points with a 46-28-8 record, good for fourth in the Pacific Division and the franchise’s first playoff berth. The points improvement was also the best ever for a franchise between its first and second seasons. Before joining the Kraken as the franchise’s first coach, the Drayton Valley, Alberta, native coached the Philadelphia Flyers for four seasons.
The Jack Adams Award is named after the Hall of Fame player and former Detroit Red Wings coach and general manager and is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association.
The NHL Awards show is on June 26 in Nashville.