Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft finishes seventh in Jack Adams voting

Jay Woodcroft has gotten some love from NHL broadcasters as the Edmonton Oilers head coach finished seventh in voting for the Jack Adams Award.

The award is handed out yearly to “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success” and has only been held by one Oilers bench boss: Glen Sather in 1986.

But on Monday night, Woodcroft had his name up there with the best coaches in the league receiving the seventh most points for the award. While Jim Montgomery took down 79 of the 82 first-place votes running away with the trophy, a few scant voters had Woodcroft in their top three.

Three voters had Woodcroft as the runner-up in second place, while two other voters had him in third place.

Woodcroft has been one of the NHL’s best coaches since he was promoted from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors amid the 2021-22 season. Since Feb. 10, 2022 — the day he was promoted — the Edmonton Oilers have had a 76-32-12 record in the regular season securing points in 68.3 percent of their games. That rate is tied for second-best in the entire NHL alongside the Carolina Hurricanes.

The two clubs trail only the Boston Bruins, whose 90-23-7 record has secured them points in 77.9 percent of games.

Woodcroft’s Oilers had been among the winningest playoff clubs over the last two seasons, as well. They’ve won 14 games over the past two seasons, the sixth most among the 21 teams who have made playoff appearances over that time.

The time is only coming before Woodcroft wins a Jack Adams award of his own.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.