GMH "Jack Adams" Award

PKC wrote:I voted for Sacco. What he's done in Colorado is nothing short of a miracle. Almost every single analyst predicted they'd be coming in last in the league.

Duchene, O'Reilly and Anderson have a lot to do with that, but yes, they've been almost a miracle out there. To be where they are right now...amazing.

EDIT: Tippett in Phoenix though....wow, who would have thought they'd be anywhere other than the basement in the West? What a rag tag bunch of cast offs that are ripping it up. So neat to see.

What Clouston's done is close to being as remarkable though. He took a team that bombed last year back to believing in themselves. He brought back a system to Ottawa, one that is even more up tempo than Murray's while being surprisingly defensively sound - and he's gotten the most out of every single player under his command. Astounding. That's why he got my vote (and I'm biased )

PKC wrote:I voted for Sacco. What he's done in Colorado is nothing short of a miracle. Almost every single analyst predicted they'd be coming in last in the league.

It was close for me. It was between Sacco and Clouston. Ottawa was supposed to be in 11th which isn't much better than bottom of the league and Ottawa is in 3rd vs. Colorado currently in 6th? Ottawa has a realistic shot at 3rd or even 2nd in the Conference compared to Colorado who, based on the last few weeks of play won't finish much higher than they are now.

I voted for Sacco because he didn't have the same kind of talent on his roster that we did on ours. While many analysts chose us to finish out of the playoffs, fans of the team knew we'd at least be a playoff team. Clouston gets a nomination because he took us from a fringe playoff team to a division-leading team.

Sacco on the other hand arguably didn't have any of the kind of talent found on our roster (Alfredsson, Kovalev, Spezza, Fisher, Michalek, etc.) so he was relying on a fresh-faced rookie, a career backup goaltender, and a rag-tag crew of forwards and defensemen to spark his gameplans. And he's executed them nearly to perfection.

Again, his team was hand-picked to be last in the NHL this year, and he's taken them to close to a division lead in what was considered one of the toughest divisions in the league this year.

PKC wrote:I voted for Sacco because he didn't have the same kind of talent on his roster that we did on ours. While many analysts chose us to finish out of the playoffs, fans of the team knew we'd at least be a playoff team. Clouston gets a nomination because he took us from a fringe playoff team to a division-leading team.

Sacco on the other hand arguably didn't have any of the kind of talent found on our roster (Alfredsson, Kovalev, Spezza, Fisher, Michalek, etc.) so he was relying on a fresh-faced rookie, a career backup goaltender, and a rag-tag crew of forwards and defensemen to spark his gameplans. And he's executed them nearly to perfection.

Again, his team was hand-picked to be last in the NHL this year, and he's taken them to close to a division lead in what was considered one of the toughest divisions in the league this year.

No Tippett love at all?

Nah, can't stand the guy. Must be the mustache. And because he took Wayne's job.

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:I voted for Sacco because he didn't have the same kind of talent on his roster that we did on ours. While many analysts chose us to finish out of the playoffs, fans of the team knew we'd at least be a playoff team. Clouston gets a nomination because he took us from a fringe playoff team to a division-leading team.

Sacco on the other hand arguably didn't have any of the kind of talent found on our roster (Alfredsson, Kovalev, Spezza, Fisher, Michalek, etc.) so he was relying on a fresh-faced rookie, a career backup goaltender, and a rag-tag crew of forwards and defensemen to spark his gameplans. And he's executed them nearly to perfection.

Again, his team was hand-picked to be last in the NHL this year, and he's taken them to close to a division lead in what was considered one of the toughest divisions in the league this year.

No Tippett love at all?

I'd rank Tippett ahead of Clouston in the Jack Adams conversation. But he also had more talent to work with than Sacco did.

Remember, Colorado finished last in the Western conference last year then lost Smyth and Sakic and replaced them with two rookies essentially. They took a waiver on a goaltender that had been a career backup until that point and created a system that led to the top of the standings for almost the entire first half of the season.

Phoenix had more to work with, already had an established goalie to work around, have a greatly underrated blueline and forwards that know their role. But Phoenix mainly benefits from having a goaltender who's having a phenomenal season and might just find himself in the Vezina conversation at the end of it if he keeps it up.

wprager wrote:Nah, can't stand the guy. Must be the mustache. And because he took Wayne's job.

Wayne's job was to stand behind the bench and look like he knew what he was doing. He indeed...did not.

SpezDispenser wrote:

wprager wrote:Nah, can't stand the guy. Must be the mustache. And because he took Wayne's job.

Wayne's job was to stand behind the bench and look like he knew what he was doing. He indeed...did not.

To be honest, Wayne did have slightly less talent to work with AND the Western conference was FAR more competitive last year. With the fall of Calgary, Dallas, Anaheim, Detroit, Minnesota and Edmonton, it created more spots for teams to pick up playoff spots.

It's a combination of circumstances. Not saying that Tippett hasn't done a phenomenal job maximizing his roster's potential, but there are other factors at play.

Tippet by a mile.