Historically, winning the Jack Adams Award has been one of the most important
factors when it comes to a head coach making the Hockey Hall of Fame. Almost
every Hall-of-Fame head coach that spent the majority of his career after the
trophy was introduced has collected 500-plus wins and has a Jack Adams Award to
 their name. The famously innovative Roger Neilson is one of the few coaches
who has been inducted into the Hall of Fame without achieving either of those
goals. Now, with wins becoming easier to get since the removal of ties, trophy
wins will only become more important to a coach's legacy.

Six active coaches have won the Jack Adams award at least once, putting their
name above their contemporaries when it comes to a potential Hall-of-Fame
induction. As of now, these six have the best shot to become a Hall-of-Fame
coach.Claude Julien - 2009 Winner

During his tenure with the Boston Bruins, Julien became one of the most
successful coaches in the league. He won 419 games with the Bruins and led them
 to two Stanley Cup Final appearances, including a Cup win in 2011. In 2009,
his Bruins ended the season one point behind the Presidents' Trophy-winning San
 Jose Sharks by using Julien's unique defensive system that shut down the other
 team without sacrificing his own team';s offensive talent.Julien made the
playoffs in each of his first seven seasons with the Bruins. After missing the
playoffs for two seasons in 2015 and 2016, the Bruins fired Julien halfway
through the 2016-17 season, and he was rehired by the Montreal Canadiens.
(Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

Despite Julien's reputation as one of the best coaches in the league during his
 tenure with the Bruins, he never got much recognition in terms of nominations,
 with 2009 being his only season as a finalist. Unfortunately, without another
Jack Adams in his arsenal, Julien will have a hard time getting in the HHOF
considering so many of the coaches during his era were nominated at least
twice.Bruce Boudreau - 2008 Winner, 2013 Finalist

Boudreau is the most successful regular-season coach in the past 14 years, with
 a career points percentage in the regular season of .654. Only Scotty Bowman
and Toe Blake have coached for as many seasons as Boudreau and still have a
points percentage over .625. Both of them are already in the HHOF.Boudreau has
only missed the playoffs once in his career but has also only made the
Conference Final once in his career, both with the Anaheim Ducks. In his first
two seasons with his current team, the Minnesota Wild, the club has yet to make
 it past the first round in two opportunities. (Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY
Sports)

His 2008 win came in his first season as a head coach in the NHL, when he took
over the Washington Capitals 21 games into the regular season and led the team
to first in their division and their first playoff appearance in four seasons.
His other nomination came in 2013 with the Anaheim Ducks, when his team ended
the lockout-shortened season with a record of 30-12-6.Related: NHL Standings
Predictions - Offseason Edition

The biggest problem Boudreau will face is his postseason reputation. While his
regular-season points percentage may match Bowman and Blake, those two coaches
also have nine and eight Stanley Cup wins respectively. The only way he would
be able to have a shot at making the HHoF at this point would be to win the
Stanley Cup and reverse his reputation.Gerard Gallant - 2018 Winner, 2016
Finalist

Having coached only 410 games so far, Gallant is the least experienced name on
this list by a wide margin. However, he has started off his coaching career
with a bang. In only his third full season as a head coach, he was named a
finalist for the Jack Adams with the Florida Panthers in 2016. Two years later,
 he coached the Vegas Golden Knights in their first ever season to first place
in the Pacific Division and a Stanley Cup Final appearance, rewarding him with
the trophy for best coach in only his fourth full season.In one-half of his
full seasons in the league, Gallant has been named as one of the three best
coaches in the league. If he can continue that success, there is no doubt he
will find himself in the HHOF, but that is a huge "if." Consistent success is
hard to come by in today';s NHL. (Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Gallant's case for a spot in the HHOF is the most unknown on this list. He has
yet to even coach 500 games let alone win 500, a rather important figure most
modern-day coaches in the Hall of Fame have reached. His career is still young,
 and although the Jack Adams win certainly starts him off on the right foot, he
 still has a long way to go before he is in HHOF discussions.Joel Quenneville -
 2000 Winner, 2013 Finalist

Arguably the best head coach in the league over the past 20 years, Quenneville
already is second in all-time regular-season wins by a head coach behind
Bowman. Yet he has only been a finalist for the Jack Adams Award twice, and 13
years apart.Quenneville has brought the Blackhawks to unmatched success since
the lockout, but there have been rumors recently that the team would move on
from the three-time champion if the team';s fortunes do not change soon.
(Dennis Wierzbicki/USA TODAY Sports)

His first nomination and only win came in 2000 with the St. Louis Blues, as the
 team won the only Presidents' Trophy in franchise history. More than a decade
later, he received his second nomination when his Chicago Blackhawks dominated
the lockout-shortened 2013 season by going 24 straight games with at least a
point at the beginning of the season and setting an NHL record. How Quenneville
 only managed one nomination during his time with the Blackhawks is more on the
 voters than the coach himself.Related: Blackhawks Roundtable - Line Combos,
Management & Trades

This case is already locked up-Quenneville will be in the HHoF. Only one head
coach with three Stanley Cup championships has been left out of the HHoF (Pete
Green of the early 1920s) and being second place in all-time wins puts
Quenneville among the all-time great coaches before he even retires from behind
 the bench.Barry Trotz - 2016 Winner, 2010 & 2011 Finalist

Along with Quenneville, Trotz is the only coach on this list to have been
behind the bench for over 20 seasons. He spent his first 15 seasons with the
Nashville Predators, where he received his first two nominations in
back-to-back years. He would finally win the Jack Adams in 2016 with the
Washington Capitals after coaching the team to first in the NHL by 11 points.

Before 2018, Trotz would have a similar story to Boudreau: regular-season
success with nothing to show from it. He was labeled a "playoff choker" after
failing to get past the second round of the playoffs despite 10 postseason
appearances but managed to break that label with the Capitals in 2018 as both
he and the team won their first Stanley Cup.Related: Islanders Name Barry
Trotz as Head Coach

With the Stanley Cup in his back pocket, Trotz has a good chance to end up in
the HHoF. He is fifth all-time in wins by a head coach and is one of only 10
head coaches to have their career last over 20 seasons. Of those 10, the five
who were not recently active are already in the HHOF. Trotz needed that Stanley
 Cup win, and now that he does, he is close to a lock to finding himself in the
 HHOF.John Tortorella - 2004 & 2017 Winner, 2003 & 2012 Finalist

Somehow the man who was won two Jack Adams Awards is one of the most confusing
cases on this list. Tortorella carries with him a questionable reputation as a
"hot-headed" head coach, and his time with the Vancouver Canucks certainly
taints his legacy, but he has still managed to be named the best coach in the
league in two different eras.Tortorella is known for his prickly personality
more than his coaching success, but his results don';t lie. While he tends to
run out his welcome faster than other coaches, he has brought success to three
different teams in two different eras. (Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports)

Tortorella has been nominated for the Jack Adams with three different teams. In
 2003 and 2004, he was nominated while coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning, which
would include a Stanley Cup win on top of his Jack Adams win in 2004. By 2009
he was with the New York Rangers, where he led them to a first-place
regular-season finish in the Eastern Conference in 2012. After an ugly
one-season stop in Vancouver and a year off from coaching, Tortorella came back
 and won the Jack Adams again with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2017 after
helping the team jump to 108 points from 76 points the season
before.Related: The NHL Needs More John Tortorellas

It is hard to say Tortorella is anything but a lock in the HHOF at this point.
While his coaching style and personality may be controversial, his success is
clear. Only six head coaches have ever won the Jack Adams more than once and
all but one are already in the HHOF. Throw in his Stanley Cup championship and
you have a near unbeatable case for a place in the HHOF.Honorable Mention: Mike
 Babcock - 2008, 2014, & 2017 Finalist

While Babcock has never won the Jack Adams, he has a strong case for a spot in
the HHOF. Considered one of the best coaches of the past 15 years, he is the
only active coach to have been nominated three times and never won. He probably
 should have won in 2014 when he lead an old and not very good Detroit Red
Wings roster to the playoffs, as well as in 2017 when he coached the Toronto
Maple Leafs to a playoff spot despite ending the previous season in dead last.
Outside the NHL, he also coached Team Canada to two Olympic gold medals in 2010
 and 2014. If Babcock does ever manage to win himself a Jack Adams, he is about
 as much of a lock on the HHOF as there could be for a coach of his era.

The post NHL Head Coaches With a Shot at the Hall of Fame appeared first on The
 Hockey Writers.

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