Bruce Cassidy is the winner of the 2020 Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in the NHL after leading the Boston Bruins to the league’s best regular season performance. Cassidy takes home the award over the other two finalists, John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers.
This decision may come as a surprise to many, given our poll on the subject had Cassidy in last place out of the three. The award is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters Association and is given to “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”
Cassidy received 37 first-place votes, with Vigneault and Tortorella receiving 32 and 28 respectively. Craig Berube of the St. Louis Blues and Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche rounded out the top-5.
Even though many expected a different outcome, there’s no denying how worthy Cassidy is of the award. Since taking control of the Bruins during the 2016-17 season, he has put up a 161-66-34 record in the regular season. He also led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final last year, though overall Cassidy actually has a losing record in the postseason as the head coach of Boston.
This marks the first Jack Adams win of Cassidy’s young career and the fourth overall for the Bruins franchise.
DarkSide830
boring choice
dugdog83
Agreed.
GoLandCrabs
Exactly, Bruins did nothing special to warrant Cassidy winning. Had the exact same regular season as last year. And their playoff result regressed to a carbon copy of 2018 ( I know playoffs don’t count). Vigneault should have won.
Hannibal8us
running away with the president’s cup is a bit different than last year. Torts probably deserved it but it’s a media award and his behavior probably cost him votes.
traderumors
Agreed but then Cassidy should’ve won it last year.
baji kimran
If Torts weren’t so crabby with the media, he’d have won easily.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
In the last year, Cassidy’s team was one win away from a Cup win and then won the President’s Trophy. What’s the beef?
ericl
I’m a Bruins fan & I would’ve voted for Torts