By AJ Petronzi
In Play Magazine
Every year there is a debate about who should win the Jack Adams award – awarded to the best coach of the year in the NHL – and this year two likely candidates, Dave Tippett and Mike Babcock, will get to face off in the opening round of the playoffs.
Phoenix’s Dave Tippett isn’t just a front runner for the nomination - he’s been considered the likely winner of the award since the Olympic break. Tippett has taken a team that, in the beginning of the year, wasn’t even sure if they’d be in the desert or if they’d be in Ontario and coached them to the playoffs. Most professional teams that are adrift in the front office don’t stand a chance in the standings. Take for instance, the Coyotes. Phoenix had the same front office issues last season but under the coaching of Wayne Gretzky finished 25th in the NHL and missed the playoffs. Tippet took over the team and finished 4th in the league this season.
Mike Babcock isn’t a stranger to the playoffs. He took Anaheim there and has never missed the playoffs since taking the job in Detroit. This year he had something to deal with that he had never faced on such a large scale. Injuries. For most of December and all of January and February, Babcock was missing eight of his top players to injury. That’s one player short of half the roster if you don’t count the goalies. In fact, it wasn’t unusual to hear the chant, “Let’s go Griffins” in the Joe Louis Arena this year (the Griffins are Detroit’s minor league team). Detroit broke 300 Man Games Lost from injuries in early March. Only Philadelphia, Colorado, and Vancouver made the playoffs with more man games lost to injury. However, all of those teams suffered more regular intervals of injuries and never saw more than three or four major players injured at one time.
Whether both of these coaches end up in the running or not, this opening round series isn’t just about which team will move on to the conference semi-finals, it could be an important factor in the decision of who will have the bragging rights behind the bench next season.
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