John Tortorella Wins the Jack Adams Award as the NHLs Top Coach

In his second season as the Oilers head coach, Todd McLellan’s Oilers went from winning 31 games to 47, and improved 33 points in the standings. That kind of improvement was good enough to catch the eye of the NHL Broadcasters' Association who nominated him, along with Mike Babcock of the Maple Leafs and John Tortorella of the Blue Jackets, for the Jack Adams Award which is presented to the coach “adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success.”

Like the Oilers under McLellan, the Maple Leafs and Blue Jackets surprised a lot of people this year and were deserving nominees. All three would have been a deserving winner, but there can be only one, and that one just happens to be John Tortorella. This was the second time that McLellan has been nominated for this award, he was previously nominated in 2008-09, and he was looking to join Glen Sather who won in 1985-86 as the only Oilers head coaches to win the Jack Adams Award.