Hakstol, Montgomery, Ruff named Jack Adams Award finalists for best coach

Dave Hakstol of the Seattle Kraken, Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins and Lindy Ruff of the New Jersey Devils were named finalists for the Jack Adams Award on Friday.

The award is given annually to the coach in the NHL who has "contributed the most to his team's success" as voted on by the National Association of Broadcasters, and the winner will be announced as part of the 2023 NHL Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 26 (8 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS).

Hakstol, 54, led the Kraken (46-28-8) to a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their second NHL season as the first wild card from the Western Conference. Seattle improved by 19 wins and 40 points (from 60 to 100) from their inaugural season and ranked in the top five in shots against per game (27.0, second), goals per game (3.52, tied for fourth), and 5-on-5 shot attempts (401, fifth).

Hakstol is a first-time finalist for the award.

Montgomery, 53, who was hired by Boston on June 30 to replace Bruce Cassidy, guided the Bruins to the most wins (65) and points (135) in a single season in NHL history. Boston, which won the Presidents' Trophy for the best record in the regular season (65-12-5), had an .823 points percentage and a plus-128 goal differential, ranked first in goals against per game (2.12) and penalty-killing percentage (87.3), and was second in goals per game (3.66) and 12th on the power play (22.2 percent). Eleven players scored at least 10 goals for the Bruins during the regular season, led by David Pastrnak, who had an NHL career-high 61.

Montgomery is also a first-time finalist. He would be the fifth Bruins coach to win the award and first since Cassidy in 2019-20.

Ruff, 63, guided the Devils (52-22-8) to their most wins and points (112) in a season, and a third-place finish in the NHL standings. It was a 25-win and 49-point improvement over last season, when they ranked 28th in the standings. New Jersey tied Seattle for fourth in the League in goals per game (3.52), tied for fourth with the Calgary Flames on the penalty kill (82.6 percent) and was eighth in goals against per game (2.71). The Devils were tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for fourth in shots per game (34.4) and were fifth in shots against per game (28.2). The 28 road wins were a Devils record, and their 11-game road winning streak from Oct. 20-Dec. 3 was the second-longest in NHL history.

A four-time finalist, Ruff won the Jack Adams in 2005-06 with the Buffalo Sabres, was the runner-up in 2006-07 with the Sabres and finished third in 2015-16 with the Dallas Stars. He ranks fifth in NHL history in games (1,713) and wins (834), and would be the second Devils coach to win the award (Jacques Lemaire, 1993-94).

Darryl Sutter won the Jack Adams with the Calgary Flames last season.