Spencer Carbery was not a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year, but he did get a lot recognition from the NHL Broadcasters’ Association for his fantastic rookie season with the Washington Capitals.
Carbery finished seventh overall receiving four first place votes, one second place vote, and 11 third place votes. Vancouver Canucks’ bench boss Rick Tocchet ultimately won the award after leading his team to a huge bounce-back year and playoff berth.
2023-24 Jack Adams Award Voting
| Rank | Coach | Points | (1st-2nd-3rd) |
| 1. | Rick Tocchet, VAN | 483 | (82-23-4) |
| 2. | Andrew Brunette, NSH | 145 | (8-28-21) |
| 3. | Rick Bowness, WPG | 75 | (5-11-17) |
| 4. | Peter Laviolette, NYR | 66 | (5-10-11) |
| 5. | Kris Knoblauch, EDM | 64 | (3-12-13) |
| 6. | Paul Maurice, FLA | 42 | (1-9-10) |
| 7. | Spencer Carbery, WSH | 34 | (4-1-11) |
| 8. | Rod Brind’Amour, CAR | 31 | (4-3-2) |
| 9. | Jim Montgomery, BOS | 29 | (0-7-8) |
| 10. | Peter DeBoer, DAL | 26 | (2-2-10) |
| 11. | Jon Cooper, TBL | 23 | (0-6-5) |
| 12. | John Tortorella, PHI | 7 | (0-2-1) |
| 13. | Mike Sullivan, PIT | 1 | (0-0-1) |
* (5-3-1 points allocation)
Carbery, 42, led the Capitals to an improbable playoff berth on the final day of their season despite having the worst goal differential, minus-37, of any team to qualify in the salary cap era.
In what appeared to be a transition season for the team, Carbery and the Capitals dealt with a seemingly endless amount of adversity during the season including:
- The Capitals went 1-3-1 to start the season and were outscored 19-7 (minus-12 goal differential) as they installed Carbery’s new system
- Nicklas Backstrom stepped away from the team on November 1 and essentially retired
- Alex Ovechkin, 38, scored only eight goals in his first 43 games until a camel ride transformed his season
- The Capitals went an entire month without a power-play goal
- TJ Oshie missed 30 games due to lingering back issues and other injury problems
- Evgeny Kuznetsov struggled before entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program and was ultimately traded at the deadline
- The Capitals were sellers at the trade deadline
- Darcy Kuemper had a career-worst season
- Nick Jensen missed the end of the season after being stretchered off the ice
- Ethan Bear entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program
- Tom Wilson was suspended for six games
- Young players Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, Beck Malenstyn, Alex Alexeyev, and Matthew Phillips were fully integrated into the team
- Bears players Hendrix Lapierre, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Vincent Iorio, Pierrick Dube, Dylan McIlrath, and Hardy Häman Aktell all played in important games
Andrew Brunette finished second in voting with 145 points, followed by Rick Bowness of the Winnipeg Jets (75 points). Former Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette, despite winning the Presidents’ Trophy with the New York Rangers, finished fourth.
Here’s the full press release from the NHL:
Canucks’ Rick Tocchet Wins Jack Adams Award
NEW YORK (May 22, 2024) – Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks is the 2023-24 recipient of the Jack Adams Award as “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success,” as selected by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association.
Tocchet, a first-time Jack Adams finalist, is the third winner in Canucks history, following Pat Quinn in 1991-92 and Alain Vigneault in 2006-07. He was the club’s first finalist for this award since Vigneault finished second in 2010-11.
Tocchet appeared as a top-three pick on 109 of the 114 ballots and received 82 first-place votes for 483 voting points in a decisive win. Nashville Predators head coach Andrew Brunette finished second with 145 voting points, followed by Rick Bowness of the Winnipeg Jets (75 points), who edged Peter Laviolette of the New York Rangers (66) and Kris Knoblauch of the Edmonton Oilers (64) in a close three-way race for third place.
In his first full season behind the Vancouver bench, Tocchet led the club to one of its finest regular seasons, capturing the Pacific Division title and No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with their third-highest point total (50-23-9, 109 pts). The Canucks made dramatic gains over 2022-23 in several categories, climbing from 22nd to sixth in the overall NHL standings; from 26th to 4th in points earned at home (40 to 59); from 25th to 5th (tie) in average goals-against per game (3.61 to 2.70) and from 32nd to 17th in penalty-killing percentage (71.6% to 79.1%). They posted the NHL’s best goal differential in the first period (+38) and excelled late as well, going 42-1-4 when leading after two periods – the most such wins in the League and double their total from 2022-23 (21-1-4).
The NHL is announcing its 2023-24 trophy winners during pregame programming ahead of Stanley Cup Playoff games on national rightsholders ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports; at the 2024 NHL Awards show at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on June 27 and at the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft in Las Vegas on June 28. ESPN’s announcements are being made on its studio show The Point leading into its game coverage.
The NHL continues its series of trophy winner announcements on Tuesday, May 28, when the winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy will be unveiled
