Scott Arniel of the Winnipeg Jets, Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens and Spencer Carbery of the Washington Capitals are the finalists for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top head coach.
The league announced the finalists Friday, following a vote conducted by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association.
Arniel, 62, led Winnipeg (56-22-4, 116 points) to top spot in the overall standings in his first season behind the bench. That earned the Jets the first Presidents’ Trophy in their history.
Only three head coaches in NHL history have earned more victories in their first season at the helm of an organization: Jim Montgomery (65 in 2022-23 with Boston), Mike Babcock (58 in 2005-06 with Detroit) and Tom Johnson (57 in 1970-71 with Boston).
Arniel is also the first head coach in league history to win each of his first eight games with a club (Oct. 9-26). The team went on to become the first team in NHL history to win 15 of their first 16 games.
Later in the season, the Jets strung together 11 straight victories from Jan. 22-Feb. 26, another franchise record.
Arniel is the second Winnipeg head coach in as many seasons to be named an award finalist. Rick Bowness finished third in voting in 2023-24.
It’s another accolade for the Jets, whose goalie Connor Hellebuyck is also a finalist for two of the NHL’s most prestigious awards.
He was announced on Thursday as one of three players up for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.
And on Monday, he was named as one of the three goalies in the running for the Vezina Trophy as the best puck stopper in the league. It’s the fifth time in the past eight seasons that he has been a finalist for that award, which he won in 2020 and 2024.
Hellebuyck is first player in Jets’ franchise history (including as the Atlanta Thrashers) to be voted as a Hart finalist and just the third goalie to be a Hart finalist in the past 10 seasons.
If he wins, he will be only the fourth goalie in the NHL expansion era (since 1967-68) to win the award, following Dominik Hasek (1996-97 and 1997-98), Jose Theodore (2001-02) and Carey Price (2014-15).
Under St. Louis, Montreal (40-31-11, 91 points) earned its first post-season berth since 2020-21 and best overall record since 2018-19. St. Louis, in his third full season as Canadiens head coach, is the club’s first Adams finalist since 2007-08 when Guy Carbonneau placed second in voting.
St. Louis is looking to become Montreal’s third winner after Scotty Bowman (1976-77) and Pat Burns (1988-89).
Carbery led Washington (51-22-9, 111 points) to second in the NHL’s overall standings in his second season as head coach. The Capitals also earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2016-17.
Carbery is vying to become Washington’s fourth Adams award winner, joining Bryan Murray (1983-84), Bruce Boudreau (2007-08) and Barry Trotz (2015-16).
