Jack Adams Trophy Odds: Who Will Win Coach of the Year?

It’s always great to win any kind of award. But it’s not always the best sign when you win the Jack Adams, the award given each year to the NHL’s top coach. 

Only two out of the last six winners named the league’s top coach are still employed by the team they won it with. 

Rick Tocchet won the award in 2024 for his work on the Vancouver Canucks and was fired just a season later. Jim Montgomery won the award in 2023, and the Boston Bruins fired him two years later. 

The turnover rate is already incredibly high in the world of NHL coaching, but when you win Coach of the Year, your chance of being fired somehow gets higher. 

Here’s a look at where the odds stand as of January 7 for who may win the Jack Adams in the 2025-26 season.

Jack Adams Trophy Odds

Who’s Favored to Win the 2025-26 Jack Adams Award?

Jared Bednar, Avalanche (+110)

Colorado’s Jared Bednar is now a frontrunner for the Jack Adams Award as his team hurtles towards a Presidents’ Trophy win. 

Bednar’s Avalanche have a 31-4-7 record with 69 team points. That’s first in the Western Conference and in the league overall. 

This is the 53-year-old coach’s 10th season coaching in Colorado. He was behind the bench for the Avalanche’s 2022 Stanley Cup victory. He’s made the playoffs eight times since taking over in 2016. 

Despite that long career, compared to the average NHL coach’s lifespan, he’s never won the Jack Adams Award. 

Bednar will have a great shot this year to finish with the league’s coach of the year award. There’s a recent track record of coaches winning the Jack Adams Award on Presidents’ Trophy-winning teams.

The most recent example was Montgomery in 2023 with the Bruins, but Bruce Cassidy also won on a Presidents’ winner in 2020, and so did Barry Trotz with the Capitals in 2016.