Trophy Tracker: Ruff of Sabres top choice for Adams Award as coach of year

To mark the conclusion of the 2025-26 regular season, NHL.com is running its fifth and final installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Jack Adams Award, given annually to the top coach in the NHL as selected in a vote by the NHL Broadcasters' Association.

Lindy Ruff is feeling what he called an awesome buzz around the city of Buffalo.

He referenced how players have noticed the sellouts and energy at KeyBank Center, that winning feeling foreign to the Buffalo Sabres and a fan base that endured an NHL-record 14 consecutive seasons without a Stanley Cup Playoff appearance. Six coaches and three general managers didn't make it through the drought before Ruff returned to Buffalo at the age of 64 for the 2024-25 season.

"I mean, it's what you should expect when the team is doing well, and everybody's getting behind the team," Ruff said. "I can't imagine what it's like for them even just to walk around town, but it's well-deserved, for sure."

The Sabres are Atlantic Division champions after a 5-1 win at the Chicago Blackhawks combined with the Tampa Bay Lightning defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in overtime on Monday, ascending from seventh place and 79 points last season to 108, their first 100-point season since 2009-10 and most since having 113 in 2006-07. Ruff, who won the Jack Adams Award for the 2005-06 season, is the favorite to win it again; he compiled 67 of 240 voting points and 11 for first place by a 16-person NHL.com panel. Jon Cooper of the Lightning, the favorite at the three-quarter mark of the season, got 49 points (one for first place). Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins was third with 40 and three for first.

They outlasted two 106-point teams, the Lightning and Montreal Canadiens. One regular-season game is left, home against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; MORE27, HBO MAX, Victory+, truTV, TNT), before a date with either the Boston Bruins or Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference First Round.

"I think you when you look at it, you got to take a lot of pride in the fact that you made the playoffs in a year where this division and this conference was so incredibly tough," Ruff said after a 4-2 win against the Lightning on April 6. "I think the effort by our group from December-on has been second to none to get to where we're at."

The Sabres were at their hotel preparing to play the Washington Capitals on April 4 when the New York Rangers defeated the Red Wings 4-1 at Madison Square Garden to clinch a playoff berth. Ruff was also the previous coach to get them there before he was fired 14 games into the 2012-13 season. They're back with the help of defensemen and No. 1 NHL Draft picks Rasmus Dahlin (2018) and Owen Power (2021), forward Tage Thompson, who has scored 40 goals for the third time, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's .919 save percentage is tied with Scott Wedgewood (Colorado Avalanche) for first in the NHL since Dec. 9 among goalies who've played at least 20 games.

They also learned to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

"It's important that you have to grind through games," Ruff said after a 4-3 win against the New York Islanders on March 31. "The experience of going through a segment of games like this and then leading up to the playoffs, you'd like it to be hard, and I think every game has been hard. All year long, our team's got a lot better at that."

On Dec. 15, the Sabres were in an unpleasant yet accustomed position: 14-14-4 and last in the Atlantic Division. General manager Kevyn Adams was fired and Jarmo Kekalainen, hired as a senior adviser May 30, 2025, was elevated. Buffalo responded by going 36-9-4 with an NHL-best .776 points percentage and League highs of 18 wins and 38 points since the break for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Before firing Adams, the Sabres lost 7-4 to the Calgary Flames on Dec. 8 and the next night blew a 3-0 lead in the third period against the Edmonton Oilers. The seeds for another season going into oblivion were planted until Alex Tuch scored 33 seconds into overtime for a 4-3 victory.

"Obviously, unbelievable," Dahlin, the Sabres captain, said April 5. "I'm happy for the city. I'm happy for all the guys that have been grinding here for years, like the equipment manager, trainers, my teammates (and) most of the people in the city. Wow, this is going to be special, that's for sure."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Lindy Ruff, Sabres, 67 points (11 first-place votes); Jon Cooper, Lightning, 49 (one); Dan Muse, Penguins, 40 (three); Joel Quenneville, Anaheim Ducks, 22 (one); Jared Bednar, Avalanche, 18; Marco Sturm, Boston Bruins, 17; Martin St. Louis, Canadiens, 10; Ryan Warsofsky, San Jose Sharks, 6; Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes, 4; Rick Bowness, Columbus Blue Jackets, 3; Glen Gulutzan, Stars, 2; Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia Flyers, 1; Andrew Brunette, Nashville Predators, 1

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report