Trophy Tracker: Bednar of Avalanche choice for Jack Adams as coach of year

To mark the halfway point of the 2025-26 regular season, NHL.com is running its third installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Jack Adams Award, given annually to the top coach in the NHL as selected in a vote by the NHL Broadcasters' Association.

Jared Bednar is in his 10th season as coach of the Colorado Avalanche since he was hired Aug. 25, 2016, the second-longest tenure in the NHL after Jon Cooper took over the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 25, 2013. Each is a Stanley Cup champion. Neither has won the Jack Adams Award and both have been finalists. Cooper was a third runner-up following his debut season and second to Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders after 2018-19. Bednar was third in 2018 voting behind runner-up Bruce Cassidy of the Boston Bruins and Gerard Gallant of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.

The way this season is going for the Avalanche, Bednar will finally take home the trophy and maybe set a few records along the way. He's the midseason favorite for NHL Coach of the Year per a panel of 16 NHL.com writers with 52 points (six for first place). Joel Quenneville of the Anaheim Ducks was second (49 votes, three for first). Todd McLellan of the Detroit Red Wings ranked third (25, three for first).

Bednar wasn't a finalist after the 2021-22 season, when the Avalanche set Colorado/Quebec Nordiques records of 56 wins and 119 points and thwarted the Lightning's three-peat attempt with a six-game victory in the Stanley Cup Final. This team is 31-3-7 and had 10 consecutive wins prior to a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Sunday. Colorado’s 25-1-4 stretch (54 points) from Oct. 26 to Jan. 1 is the best in franchise history, outdoing the 25-2-3 run (53 points) from Dec. 2, 2021, to Feb. 19, 2022.

Colorado leads the League in wins, points (69), points percentage (.841), goals (164) and goal differential (plus-75), and is the fourth team with two double-digit winning streaks in the same season (10 games from Nov. 4-26), following the 2019-20 Lightning (11 and 10), 1970-71 Bruins (13 and 10) and 1929-30 Bruins (14 and 11). It's won 15 in a row at Ball Arena, the only team without a regulation loss (17-0-2) on home ice, and is 24-0-0 when leading after two periods.

For context, the 2022 Stanley Cup champions were 30-8-3 (63 points) after 41 games. The 2022-23 Bruins were 32-5-4 (68 points) before setting NHL records of 65 wins and 135 points.

"I think your goal of your team is that, in any season, that you feel like you can win every night," Bednar said following a 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings in Denver on Dec. 29. "That's what you want. You want to have that belief. You have to have that belief, or you won't. You won't win and you won't win as much as you think you should. I think they've done a nice job with their focus, that we're focusing on the right things, and it's kind of snowballing for us, so we go into every game expecting to win and that's what you want them to feel."

The Avalanche are winning with the right mix of role players and superstars. Forward Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar are on Team Canada's roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, leading a contingent that includes Brock Nelson (Team USA), Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Kiviranta (Team Finland), Martin Necas (Team Czechia) and captain Gabriel Landeskog (Team Sweden) for the first Olympics featuring NHL players since Sochi in 2014.

"I feel like a lot of guys step up when we need them to and it's not just the top guys," Makar said before defeating the Kings. "We all want to win it here and I think when we come and show up together as a group, I think we can do special things. For us, right now, it's a good time, obviously, want to keep winning."

The Avalanche begin a seven-game homestand after visiting the Lightning on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; The Spot, ALT, SNE, TVAS). They have five games left against the Dallas Stars (three) and Minnesota Wild (two), Central Division rivals who have combined to hand them two of their four shootout losses and are chasing them for the Presidents' Trophy given to the team with the League's best record at the end of the regular season.

Don't expect a letdown.

"Motivation is presented and set out and agreed on at the start of the year," Bednar said after a 6-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 31. "I'm just giving reminders of what our goals are, what our standard is and how do we keep pushing that standard a little bit better. We have a group of self-motivated guys. That's what you need to have if you want to win. If you're finding ways to get the guys and motivate them on a daily basis, then you're probably on the wrong team."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis):

Jared Bednar, Avalanche, 52 points (six first-place votes); Joel Quenneville, Ducks, 49 points (3); Todd McLellan, Red Wings, 25 points (2); John Hynes, Wild, 21 points (2); Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia Flyers, 18 points (2); Jon Cooper, Lightning, 14 points; Glen Gulutzan, Stars, 14 points; Patrick Roy, Islanders, 12 points; Ryan Warsofsky, San Jose Sharks, 11; Paul Maurice, Florida Panthers, six points; Martin St. Louis, Montreal Canadiens, four points; Marco Sturm, Bruins, four points; Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes, three points; Sheldon Keefe, New Jersey Devils, two points; Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres; two points; Spencer Carbery, Washington Capitals, two points; Dan Muse, Pittsburgh Penguins, one point.