Scott Arniel, Spencer Carbery and Martin St. Louis were named finalists for the Jack Adams Award on Friday.
The winner of the award, which is given annually to the top coach in the NHL as voted on by the National Broadcasters’ Association, will be announced at a later date.
Arniel, 62, led the Winnipeg Jets to the Presidents’ Trophy with a record of 56-22-4. It was the first time in their history the Jets won the award, which goes to the team with the best overall record in the NHL. The Presidents’ Trophy was first awarded in the 1985-86 season.
“It’s a tremendous honor and I’m real appreciative,” Arniel said. “But for me, it’s (assistants) Marty (Johnston), Davis (Payne), Dean (Chynoweth), Flats (Wade Flaherty), James (Cochrane, hockey video coordinator) and Matty (Matt Prefontaine, video coach) as well. Our coaching staff, we come in and obviously had a mindset starting in training camp and an idea. Then the players buying into it. Obviously you don’t have success unless the players do what they did. I’m appreciative but like you mentioned, there are some other, bigger prizes we’re after right now.”
This was Arniel’s first season as coach of the Jets, replacing Rick Bowness, who retired on May 6, 2024. Arniel, who had been an associate on Bowness’ staff the previous two seasons, was originally selected by the Jets in the second round (No. 22) of the 1981 NHL Draft. He also coached the Columbus Blue Jackets for parts of two seasons (2010-12).
A first-time finalist, Arniel would be the first coach in the history of the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise to win the award. The previous Winnipeg Jets franchise, which moved to Phoenix in 1996 and is currently inactive, had two winners — Bob Murdoch in 1989-90 and Tom Watt in 1981-82.
In his second season as the coach of the Washington Capitals, Carbery led them to a 51-22-9 record, the best in the Eastern Conference and second best in the NHL. The 51 wins were 11 more than the Capitals had last season, when they reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
With a new-look roster, Carbery, 43, guided a Capitals team that was under the spotlight because of Alex Ovechkin’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal-scoring record, which he broke on April 6.
Also a first-time finalist, Carbery would become the fourth Capitals coach to win the award and first since Barry Trotz in 2015-16. Bruce Boudreau won the award for Washington in 2007-08 and Bryan Murray won it in 1983-84.
In his third full season as coach of Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis, 49, led the storied franchise back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2021. The Canadiens went 40-31-11, reaching the postseason as the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The 91 points were 15 more than Montreal had last season. He was hired as interim coach on Feb. 9, 2022, replacing Dominique Ducharme, and the interim tag was removed that June.
Also a first-time finalist, St. Louis would become the third Canadiens coach to win the award, after Pat Burns in 1988-89 and Scotty Bowman in 1976-77.
“I’m nominated for this trophy, but for me it’s just a team recognition, and you don’t get to this without, obviously, the vote of confidence from (owner) Geoff Molson and (general manager) Kent (Hughes) and Gorts (executive vice president Jeff Gorton) and taking a chance on an ex-player, so to speak,” St. Louis said. “But as a coach, you’re only as good as your staff, your support staff, my assistant coaches, and then the buy-in from the players. To me, that’s where it all starts. It’s a team award, and I think we don’t get recognized with this award unless everybody’s pulling in the same direction. So I’m very proud of the team that as an organization, we get nominated for that.”
Rich Tocchet, then the coach of the Vancouver Canucks, won the Jack Adams Award last season.
