NEW YORK – Calgary Flames head coach Daryl Sutter is among the three finalists for the Jack Adams Award, which is presented annually to the coach of the year of the National Hockey League.
Andrew Brunette of the Florida Panthers and Gerard Galant of the New York Rangers are the other two finalists.
Sutter began his second stay behind the Flams bench on March 4, 2021, as a mid-season deputy for the sacked Jeff Ward.
After the Flames missed the playoffs in 2020-21, the 63-year-old from Viking, Altai, saw the biggest improvement of the season for any NHL team. The Flames grabbed the title in the Pacific Division and set the sixth best NHL record (50-21-11) in 2021-22.
After winning the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014, Sutter was an adviser to the Anaheim Ducks coaching staff and seemed to be stepping down as an NHL coach when he took over the Flames.
“The reason I came back was because I was watching the teams, the (Edmonton) Oilers and Calgary teams,” Sutter said in Calgary on Thursday.
“I thought the Flames was lagging behind in what was happening in the division, what was happening in the league. That was the biggest reason I came back.”
“I’ve been lucky to be in the places I’ve been and with the owners and the type of teams you’d like to see succeed. You get to a point where you can’t choose, but you don’t have to go through a process. to take that position. “
Sutter is a finalist for the second time in his career. He was nominated in 2003-04 when he was also the coach of the Flames.
The brunette led the Panthers (58-18-6) to the first presidential trophy in franchise history as the best team in the NHL regular season.
Galant became only the second head coach in the history of the franchise to win more than 50 games in his first season, directing the Rangers (52-24-6) to their best record since winning the 2014-15 Presidential Trophy.
The winners of the 2022 NHL Awards will be revealed sometime during the conference finals and the Stanley Cup final.
Members of the NHL Television Association cast ballots for the award at the end of the regulatory season, with the three with the best votes announced as finalists.
“If coaches voted for the best coaches every year, you’ll see a very different list over the last 15 years,” Sutter said.
“I don’t need that in my resume. Some guys do. I prefer to see young boys win, (or) older boys who have a rough deal somewhere. A man like Gerard got a rough deal in Florida, got a rough deal in Vegas. I know who I would vote for. “
The Golden Knights fired Galant in January 2020. He led the team to the playoffs in each of its first two years, including the Stanley Cup final in the 2017-18 enlargement year.
The Florida Panthers fired him after a away game against Carolina Hurricanes in November 2016, and Galant went home alone.
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