What's at stake

A single coach will be named the 2025–26 Jack Adams Award winner as the NHL’s coach of the year.

That selection recognizes the coach judged to have delivered the season’s most outstanding regular-season performance and affects reputation, job security, and future hiring interest.

Who's in play

Front-runners include Andre Tourigny, Joel Quenneville, Martin St. Louis, Todd McLellan, Rick Tocchet, Adam Foote, Marco Sturm, and Lane Lambert.

Also in play are coaches such as Jon Cooper, Mike Sullivan, Jared Bednar, Paul Maurice, and several long-tenured or turnaround candidates from the outcome list; broadcasters’ votes determine the winner.

What drives it

On-ice results matter most: team points, improvement over preseason expectations, power play and penalty kill rates, and player development all influence perceptions of coaching value.

External events — injuries, trade-deadline moves, hot goaltending, and national media narratives — can tip close races as broadcasters weigh context alongside raw records.

What to watch

Key windows are the All-Star break, the NHL trade deadline, and the season’s final month when postseason qualification and divisional races crystallize.

Monitor coach-of-the-month winners, long winning or losing streaks, major roster changes, injury reports, and late-season interviews; broadcasters’ late ballots and the official award announcement settle the result.