Call us biased, call us homers, call us whatever you want.
Bruce Boudreau deserved more credit for what he did with the Vancouver Canucks this season.
On Wednesday, the full breakdown of votes for the Jack Adams Award, which recognizes the NHL’s top coach, was released.
The award, as voted on by the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association, was bestowed upon Calgary Flames bench boss Darryl Sutter — deservedly so, we might add. Sutter received 54 of 121 first place votes, and was on 93 of 121 ballots.
That’s all fine and dandy, and we’re certainly not here to try to make a case against Darryl Sutter.
Here is the full breakdown of voting:
By definition, Boudreau deserved more love
It’s a rather insignificant topic, and we’re sure Bruce Boudreau isn’t losing sleep over being tied for 12th place after making his return to the NHL midseason.
But when you examine the definition of the award, it becomes a bit more clear that Boudreau probably deserved some more love from the voters.
By definition, the Jack Adams Award “is awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach “adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”
And in case you’re new here, the difference between the Canucks before and after Boudreau took over this season — by their record, traditional stats, and just about every microstat out there — is somewhat dramatic.
For example, would you believe us if we told you that Elias Pettersson registered just two points at 5-on-5 through his first 25 games of the season under Travis Green?
Pettersson was just one of many Canucks who took off under Boudreau, and the on-ice results followed for the club, as they finished the season with a 32-15-10 record — the second-highest points percentage in the Pacific Division during that stretch.
We’d argue that Boudreau’s impact on the Canucks was greater than Sheldon Keefe’s impact on the Maple Leafs — even if Boudreau’s Canucks and Keefe’s Leafs won the same number of playoff rounds.
The same can be said about Jon Cooper in Tampa Bay, Jared Bednar in Colorado, Andrew Brunette in Florida, and by now, you’ve probably got the point.
It really, really doesn’t matter that much, but Bruce Boudreau’s impact on turning the Canucks’ season around deserved more love.
Not to mention Jay Woodcroft, who saved the Edmonton Oilers from having a complete letdown of a season in which expectations were sky-high.
But that’s a story for another day, and one that we’ll let our friends at Oilers Nation tell you about instead.
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