The firing of Jim Montgomery this week was newsworthy for plenty of reasons, mostly surrounding what it means for the spiraling Bruins. But it was also interesting for awards watchers, who probably recall Montgomery winning the Jack Adams as coach of the year in 2023. It’s fair to say the list of that year’s finalists has, as the kids say these days, not aged well.
In May 2023, the NHL announced its finalists for the Jack Adams as coach of the year: Jim Montgomery, Dave Hakstol and Lindy Ruff.
Just 18 months later, all three have since been fired.
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) November 19, 2024
Ruff didn’t even make it through the 2023-24 season, while Hakstol was gone early in the offseason. Montgomery was the comparative ironman, making it all the way until Tuesday.
Three coaches, the apparent best of the best in 2023, all fired before the end of 2024. We have to ask the question: Is the Jack Adams cursed?
No, because curses aren’t real. But it is a weird award, one that’s typically voted on as much based on short-term surprise factor as long-term excellence. If the trophy truly went to the best coach in the league every year, we’d expect to see plenty of names listed as multiple-time winners, just like we do for the Hart or the Vezina. With the exceedingly rare Jim Carey-level exception that proves the rule, you seldom see major player awards go to guys who are out of a job entirely within a few years.
But you do see it with the Jack Adams, in part because the broadcasters who vote on it typically lean toward coaches whose teams have exceeded expectations, which is nice but not the same as being the best at the job. Worse, a spot as a Jack Adams finalist combined with a surprisingly strong season often raises expectations, and expectations can be an NHL coach’s worst enemy.
So maybe it’s not surprising that we see the occasional outlier like that 2023 trio of soon-to-deposed coaches. The problem is it’s not much of an outlier at all. So today, let’s look through the Jack Adams finalists for every season of the cap era and ask a simple question: How well did the list hold up, in terms of those guys clearing the low bar of simply keeping their jobs?
I’ve pulled ten years where the answer ranges from “not great” to “big oof,” which seems like a lot considering we’ve only got 19 years to choose from. Let’s count down those 10 lists of finalists, from bad to worse.
#10. 2017-18
The finalists: Gerard Gallant (Golden Knights) beat out Bruce Cassidy (Bruins) and Jared Bednar (Avalanche)
But then: Cassidy lasted four more seasons in Boston, while Bednar is still in Colorado. But Gallant, despite bringing an expansion team to the Stanley Cup Final, lasted just another season and a half in Vegas before being given the boot.
How well does it hold up?: Pretty well, especially since – as we’ll see in a bit – this sort of thing seems to happen to Gallant a lot.
#9. 2020-21
The finalists: Rod Brind’Amour (Hurricanes) beat out Dean Evason (Wild) and Joel Quenneville (Panthers)
But then: Evason did fine in Minnesota before finding his way to Columbus, while Brind’Amour may be the most respected coach in the entire league right now. But while nobody could have seen it coming at the time, Quenneville only coached seven more games before he was done in Florida, and he hasn’t coached since.
Does it hold up?: I think it mostly does because the Quenneville situation needs a gigantic asterisk. But if you’re looking for the cap-era record for quickest job loss after being a Jack Adams finalist, seven games is pretty tough to beat. Tough, but as we’ll see in a bit, not impossible.
#8. 2013-14
The finalists: Patrick Roy (Avalanche) beat out Mike Babcock (Red Wings) and Jon Cooper (Lightning)
But then: This is admittedly a bit of an odd one, as Babcock was out of Detroit a year later and Roy was out of Colorado in two. But in both cases, it was by choice, with Babcock getting a windfall in Toronto while Roy walked out on the Avalanche.
How well does it hold up?: Not awful, once you look at the circumstances. One thing that doesn’t hold up: This is one of only two times that Cooper has even been named a finalist for an award he’s never won.
#7. 2007-08
The finalists: Bruce Boudreau (Capitals) beat out Guy Carbonneau (Canadiens) and Mike Babcock (Red Wings)
But then: Boudreau won the award as a rookie based on a partial season, and went on to coach 16 seasons and (maybe) counting, while Babcock was in the middle of his spotless reputation era that lasted another decade or so. But Carbonneau didn’t even make it all the way through the next season before the Canadiens fired him, and he never coached in the NHL again.
How well does it hold up?: A classic two-out-of-three-is-kind-of-bad Jack Adams field. Ah well, they’ll probably do better next year.
#6. 2008-09
The finalists: Claude Julien (Bruins) beat out Andy Murray (Blues) and Todd McLellan (Sharks)
But then: Julien and McLellan stuck around, but Murray was fired halfway through the following season. He hasn’t had an NHL head coaching job since.
How well does it hold up?: Yep, two years in a row that the Jack Adams runner-up was fired during the following season. In case you’re wondering, that mini-streak was broken in 2010 by Nashville’s Barry Trotz, who made it to 2014.
#5. 2011-12
The finalists: Ken Hitchcock (Blues) beat out John Tortorella (Rangers) and Paul MacLean (Senators)
But then: This is a weird one. Despite a reputation as a guy who wears out his welcome in the room, Hitchcock lasted the longest of this group, coaching in St. Louis until 2016-17. Meanwhile, Tortorella only had one year left in New York before he was off to Vancouver for, uh, one year.
But the really strange one is MacLean. He didn’t just keep his job in 2012-13, he went back-to-back as a finalist and won the award. Then he lasted just one more season and change, and despite several stops as an assistant he hasn’t had another head-coaching opportunity since. So two Jack Adams finalist spots in his first two years, then just one more full season and thanks for coming out. What a weird job and/or league.
How well does it hold up?: Not well. For what it’s worth, the other two finalists in 2013 were Boudreau and Quenneville, which is why I’m not listing it even though the winner wasn’t long for the league. I figure this entry captures the MacLean weirdness well enough.
#4. 2014-15
The finalists: Bob Hartley (Flames) beat out Alain Vigneault (Rangers) and Peter Laviolette (Predators)
But then: Vigneault stuck around New York until 2018 and Laviolette lasted until 2020 in Nashville. But Hartley beat them both for the award, then lasted just one more year in Calgary and hasn’t had a job in the NHL since. He went on to coach the Latvian national team and is now in the KHL.
How well does it hold up?: Not great, given the winner was out of the league entirely within a year.
#3. 2015-16
The finalists: Barry Trotz (Capitals) beat out Gerard Gallant (Panthers) and Lindy Ruff (Stars)
But then: Trotz guided the Capitals to a Stanley Cup in 2018 and then left on his own terms immediately after. Things didn’t go as well for Ruff, who lasted just one more season in Dallas before being shown the door.
But the real star here is Gallant, who’d just led the Panthers to the first 100-point season in franchise history and seemed to be the perfect coach for a team on the rise. Instead, he was just 22 games away from the infamous taxi cab firing that ended up symbolizing the monumental dysfunction of Panthers management and their computer boys, a reputation they probably never recovered from.
How well does it hold up?: For about as long as the waving hand of an abandoned coach trying to hail a cab.
#2. 2022-23
The finalists: Jim Montgomery (Bruins) beat out Lindy Ruff (Devils) and Dave Hakstol (Kraken)
But then: Well, at least they all made it to opening night of the next season, right? That’s foreshadowing, by the way.
How well does it hold up?: Terribly. But wait, how is this not number one? Well, about that…
#1. 2021-22
The finalists: Darryl Sutter (Flames) beat out Andrew Brunette (Panthers) and Gerard Gallant (Rangers)
But then: Where to begin. Sutter was fired at the end of the next season. So was Gallant, and congratulations to him on the hat trick of appearances in this article. But both guys at least made it to the next season, which is more than we can say for Brunette. The Panthers replaced him with Paul Maurice just weeks after the finalists were announced, in a move that wasn’t technically a firing (since they offered him a chance to stay in the organization) but had the same effect.
Three coaches, three spots as a Jack Adams finalist, and a combined (runs numbers) two whole seasons of sticking around in their jobs.
How well does it hold up?: As the single worst list of Jack Adams finalists of the cap era, at least in hindsight. And that’s saying something.
(Top photo of Gerard Gallant and Bob Hartley: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
