Ranking the Top Candidates for the Jack Adams Trophy in 2015-16 NHL Season

Every year, the members of the National Hockey League's Broadcasters' Association cast their votes for the Jack Adams Award, which is the trophy given to the NHL's best coach.

Votes are tallied at the end of the regular season, which means good work in the playoffs doesn't count—unless it's factored into a coach's overall body of work.

The broadcasters like to reward coaches who have turned teams around, but they also throw votes toward coaches who have paid their dues at the highest level.

Star power counts. Coaches like John Hynes of the New Jersey Devils, Bill Peters of the Carolina Hurricanes and Peter DeBoer of the San Jose Sharks, who have all had good years, will need to impress for more than one season before they gain traction in the Adams conversation. At the same time, it's not implausible that the revered Mike Babcock will get some votes for his work with the last-place Toronto Maple Leafs.

When the Broadcasters' Association announces the nominees, we'll only hear the top three vote-getters. These are the six candidates who are most likely to hear their names announced.

6. Darryl Sutter: Los Angeles Kings

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2015-16 Team Record: 56 GP, 33-20-3, 69 points, .616 points percentage

2014-15 Team Record: 82 GP, 40-27-15, 95 points, .579 points percentage

Sutter's Jack Adams History

Darryl Sutter has served as an NHL head coach for four Western Conference teams over more than two decades. He spent three seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and was into his sixth year when the San Jose Sharks fired him in late 2002.

Hired almost immediately by the Calgary Flames, he took them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2004, but he left the team after the 2005-06 season.

More than five years later, Sutter joined the Los Angeles Kings as a midseason replacement and guided them to the 2012 Stanley Cup. He added another championship in 2014.

The name "Sutter" is engraved on the Jack Adams Award. Darryl's older brother, Brian, won as the coach of the St. Louis Blues during the 1990-91 season.

Darryl has never won a Jack Adams Award. He received nomination with the Flames in 2003-04 but lost out to the same man who beat him for the Stanley Cup, John Tortorella of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Why He's in the Running

Darryl Sutter doesn't exactly have a reputation as a players' coach, and his job was far from secure after his defending-champion Kings lost the chance to defend their title when they failed to make the playoffs in 2014-15. But Los Angeles is back on track—dominating the Pacific Division for most of the season to date and looking like they still have the tools and the motivation to be playoff contenders.

Though Sutter is often terse with his responses to the media, he has an effective way of communicating that gets the best out of his players. For all his success on the ice, could the members of the NHL's Broadcasters' Association bring themselves to collectively support a man who is so stingy with a good soundbite?

5. Jeff Blashill: Detroit Red Wings

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2015-16 Team Record: 57 GP, 29-19-9, 67 points, .588 points percentage

2014-15 Team Record: 82 GP, 43-25-14, 100 points, .610 points percentage

Blashill's Jack Adams History

Jeff Blashill is in his rookie season as an NHL coach with the Detroit Red Wings. He coached the Indiana Ice of the USHL to the Clark Cup title in 2008-09 and won an AHL Calder Cup with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2012-13, per HockeyDB.com.

Why He's in the Running

Blashill is the only coach on this list whose team is projected to finish with less points than it did in 2014-15. But the rookie stepped into the big shoes of Babcock on a rebuilding team in Detroit and looks like he's on track to guide the Red Wings to their record-setting 26th straight playoff appearance.

Blashill deserves some acclaim for keeping the Red Wings on track and for shepherding an amazing rookie season by Dylan Larkin while still getting the most out of veterans like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall. Blashill has also brought out the best in his emerging goaltender, Petr Mrazek, while dealing with the delicate dance of unseating a well-paid incumbent in Jimmy Howard.

Babcock is a formidable personality who ruled with an iron fist during his time in Detroit. Blashill is doing an excellent job of keeping the Red Wings on track with a much more low-key approach.

4. Gerard Gallant: Florida Panthers

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2015-16 Team Record: 57 GP, 33-18-6, 72 points, .632 points percentage 

2014-15 Team Record: 82 GP, 38-29-15, 91 points, .555 points percentage

Gallant's Jack Adams History

Before joining the Florida Panthers at the beginning of the 2014-15 season, Gerard Gallant served as an NHL head coach for 142 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets between 2004 and 2006. He was not considered a Jack Adams contender in Columbus.

Why He's in the Running

The Florida Panthers are one of the NHL's best feel-good stories of the 2015-16 season—a rag-tag collection of long-in-the-tooth veterans like Jaromir Jagr, Willie Mitchell and Roberto Luongo and emerging talents like Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau have gelled into a multi-generational team that's winning games (and fans) in one of the league's toughest markets.

Gallant has guided a complex alchemy to unlikely success. Can his team act as a spoiler in the playoffs?

3. Lindy Ruff: Dallas Stars

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

2015-16 Team Record: 58 GP, 37-15-6, 80 points, .690 points percentage

2014-15 Team Record: 82 GP, 41-31-10, 92 points, .561 points percentage

Ruff's Jack Adams History

After the yearlong NHL lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season, Lindy Ruff won the Jack Adams Award in 2005-06—his eighth year as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres. Ruff also finished as runner-up to Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks the following season with a points percentage of .689, even better than his Adams-year achievement of .671.

Why He's in the Running

During his two seasons to date with the Dallas Stars, Ruff has done an impressive job of bringing out the best in his players.

Exhibit A: Jamie Benn, a fifth-round draft pick who won the Art Ross Trophy in 2015 and currently ranks second in this year's scoring race despite undergoing double-hip surgery in the offseason, per NHL.com.

Exhibit B: John Klingberg, also a fifth-round draft pick but tied for second in scoring among defensemen and proving that he's here to stay after a breakout rookie season.

Exhibit C: The Stars are battling the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks for top spot in the Western Conference—and they're winning. Dallas endured a rough patch in January, going 3-6-2, but Ruff has turned his team back around as the playoff races heat up. The Stars are 6-1-1 so far in February.

After missing the playoffs one year ago, the Stars look like they have the tools to go beyond the first round in this year's postseason. Ruff and his general manager, Jim Nill, have proved to be savvy operators as they engineer the rebuild in Dallas.

2. Joel Quenneville: Chicago Blackhawks

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

2015-16 Team Record: 60 GP, 37-18-5, 79 points, .658 points percentage

2014-15 Team Record: 82 GP, 48-28-6, 102 points, .622 points percentage

Quenneville's Jack Adams History

After winning the Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche in 1995-96, Joel Quenneville became head coach for the St. Louis Blues when the team fired Mike Keenan midway through the following season.

Quenneville won the Jack Adams Award with the Blues in the 1999-2000 season when he led St. Louis to a 51-19-11-1 record and won the Presidents' Trophy with 114 points. Unfortunately, the San Jose Sharks eliminated the Blues in seven games in the first round of the playoffs.

St. Louis fired Quenneville in the spring of 2004, then he returned to the Avalanche for three seasons before hooking up with the Chicago Blackhawks at the beginning of the 2008-09 season.

Quenneville was a runner-up to Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean for the Jack Adams Award in 2012-13, which was the lockout-shortened season when the Blackhawks recorded an NHL-best 77 points in 48 games and won the Stanley Cup.

Why He's in the Running 

In his seven full seasons with Chicago to date, Quenneville has delivered one Presidents' Trophy and three Stanley Cups, but he has yet to add a second Jack Adams Award to his trophy case.

Coach Q has a good team to work with, no doubt, but he has also managed to bring out the best in his players despite a never-ending roster churn caused by salary-cap restrictions.

The Blackhawks showed their determination in 2014-15 when they parlayed a so-so regular season (for them) into their third Stanley Cup in six years. With Patrick Kane gunning for the Hart Trophy and Chicago pushing the Western Conference's top teams this year, the Hawks look even better.

The Jack Adams Award is meant to be for regular-season performance, but Quenneville's playoff history should help earn him some votes in April—for his body of work as much as what he has achieved this season.

1. Barry Trotz: Washington Capitals

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

2015-16 Team Record: 55 GP, 41-10-4, 86 points, .782 points percentage

2014-15 Team Record: 82 GP, 45-26-11, 101 points, .616 points percentage

Trotz's Jack Adams History

As coach of the Nashville Predators, Barry Trotz was a two-time Jack Adams finalist but lost out to Dave Tippett of the then-Phoenix Coyotes in 2010, per NHL.com, and Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011, per the Penguins' website.

Why He's in the Running

The Washington Capitals have had an outstanding season, but now that they're into the homestretch, they're on the verge of making history.

If Washington keeps up its current pace, the team will finish the season with 128 points. That would be a 27-point improvement from Trotz's first season behind the Capitals bench and the highest single-season point total in the NHL since the Detroit Red Wings earned 131 points 20 years ago, back in 1995-96.

Jack Adams voting tends to favor coaches who have turned teams around. To put it simply, Trotz has elevated the Capitals to the final rung of the ladder this season, from good to great.

Stats courtesy of NHL.com. Jack Adams data courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.