Panthers’ Joel Quenneville named finalist for coach-of-the-year award after record-setting season

Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville has been named a finalist for the 2020-21 Jack Adams Award, presented to the head coach who has “contributed the most to his team’s success.”

In his second season with the Panthers, Quenneville led the team to a 37-14-5 record (.705 points percentage) and a second-place finish in the hotly contested Central Division. The Panthers, who posted their best regular-season winning percentage in franchise history, also had the fourth-most points in the NHL (79).

The Panthers, however, couldn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs, falling in six games to the reigning Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida hasn’t won a postseason series in 25 years.

“There’s a lot of positives,” Quenneville said after his team was eliminated from the postseason. “You’re always looking to get better. Can’t be satisfied with the improvement that we did have this year, which was significant. And hey, let’s keep thinking that’s the rate we want to keep getting better at.”

Quenneville, who has been named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for the third time, is just 38 regular-season wins shy of 1,000 for his coaching career, trailing only Scotty Bowman (1,244).

“Expectations are healthy,” said Quenneville, who has won three Stanley Cup titles leading the Chicago Blackhawks and another as an assistant for the Colorado Avalanche. “Creating a higher standard of expected play is where we’re at. I think that happened, started being in place going into the playoffs.”

Quenneville won the award following the 1999-2000 season with the St. Louis Blues and was a runner-up in 2012-13 with the Blackhawks. No Panthers coach has ever won the award, with Doug MacLean (1995-96) and Gerard Gallant (2015-16) each finishing second in the voting.

Rod Brind’Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes and Dean Evason of the Minnesota Wild are the other two coaches up for the award.

At the conclusion of the regular season, members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association submitted their ballots for the award. The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards during either the Stanley Cup semifinals or finals.

Brind’Amour led the Hurricanes to the Central Division title with a 36-12-8 record and .714 points percentage. The Hurricanes finished third in the NHL and made it to the second round of the playoffs before being eliminated by the Lightning.

Evason led the Wild to a third-place finish in the West Division with a 35-16-5 record and a franchise-best .670 points percentage. The Wild were eliminated in seven games by the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the playoffs.