NEW YORK - 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 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.Â
He 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 a tremendous honour,” Arniel said in St. Louis on Friday before the Jets’ playoff game versus the Blues. “Our coaching staff, we came in and obviously had a mindset starting in training camp and an idea.
“And then with the players buying into it, obviously, you don’t have success unless the players do what they did. I’m appreciative of it... it’s some other bigger prizes that we’re after right now.”
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).
“I’m nominated for this trophy, but for me it’s just team recognition,” St. Louis said. “You don’t get to this without, obviously, the vote of confidence from Geoff Molson and Kent (Hughes) and Gorts (Jeff Gorton) and taking a chance on an ex-player, so to speak.Â
“But as a coach, you’re only as good as your staff, your support staff, my assistant coaches, and then the buy-in from the players. To me, that’s where it all starts. It’s a team award, and I think we don’t get recognized with this award unless everybody’s pulling in the same direction. So I’m very proud of the team that, as an organization, we get nominated for that.”
t. Louis captured four individual honours during a stellar NHL career — the Lady Byng, Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. His success behind Montreal’s bench has come despite minimal coaching experience, though St. Louis always felt like a coach on the ice.
“It’s flattering, for sure,” he said. “But I would say my last 10 years in the NHL, I was coaching a lot. I had a lot of experience.
“You can ask my former teammates.”
Carbery, who hails from Victoria, 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).
With files from Daniel Rainbird in Montreal and Gregory Strong in St. Louis.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025.
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