Blackhawks coach Quenneville is more than worthy of Jack Adams trophy

Joel Quenneville has been a head coach in the NHL for 20 years.

During that time, he has managed to amass the second-most victories of all-time, won three Stanley Cups and proven to be a mastermind both behind the bench and in how he deals with players off the ice.

Yet, for some reason, Quenneville has been awarded the Jack Adams trophy only one time during his career - in 2000 when he was with St. Louis. Considering everything he's accomplished, this is in many ways mind-blowing.

Of course, when it comes to the coach-of-the-year award, there's little doubt that members of the NHL Broadcasting Association vote for coaches who led their team to an unexpected playoff appearance and/or made a significant turnaround from the season before.

That's a big reason why only five coaches have won the Jack Adams multiple times since the league began handing it out in 1974. Even the great Scotty Bowman, who captured a whopping nine Stanley Cup titles as a coach, only won the Jack Adams twice - with Montreal in 1977 and Detroit in 1996.

This season, the front-runners for coach of the year have to be Toronto's Mike Babcock and Columbus' John Tortorella. Both men have guided their franchises to seasons few saw coming. The Maple Leafs and Blue Jackets were last and second-to-last in the East in 2015-16, yet one year later, both have qualified for the playoffs.

This is all well and good, but to ignore what Quenneville has done year after year after year with the Blackhawks is sheer lunacy. And if there were a year in which Coach Q should render serious consideration, it's certainly this one.

Quenneville led the Hawks to the top seed in the Western Conference by getting the absolute most out of everyone on his roster - one that began with six rookies and added a seventh in Tanner Kero in December.

The argument against Quenneville winning will always be: "Oh, but he has Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Corey Crawford. Any coach could win with that group."

True. But not the way Quenneville wins with them.

And it's not just that. Look at the way Richard Panik, Ryan Hartman, Nick Schmaltz, Kero and Scott Darling have developed this season. Third-year D-man Trevor van Riemsdyk continues to make solid strides as well.

Give credit to those players, but Quenneville and his staff deserve a ton of it as well.

While talking with Ben Eager for our series on retirement, Q's name came up when Eager was talking about implementing drills for his students and the Team Illinois squad he coaches along with Daniel Carcillo.

Eager, who played for the Hawks from 2007-10, summed up Quenneville's importance to the Hawks quite perfectly when he said:

"I've played for 20, 30 coaches. I've only basically learned things that have helped me from five. A lot of coaches are just trying to keep their jobs. But there's some coaches, they just know how to coach things that happen in games that you can apply that work. … They teach individual skills that you can relate to the game right away.

"Kane and Toews, (Patrick Sharp) and all those guys were big parts of the Cup, but Q is just as big a deal. He's not scoring the goals, but if (Kane and Toews) went to Edmonton or something, I don't know if they're top 100 players after their ninth year.

"Q's a great coach."

And one who should add another Jack Adams trophy to his resume sooner rather than later.

• Follow John on Twitter @johndietzdh

Jack Adams winners

A list of NHL coaches of the year since Joel Quenneville took over for the Blackhawks in 2008-09.

Season Winner, team Record, points Hawks record, pts.

2008-09 C. Julien, Bruins 53-19-10, 116 45-22-11, 101

2009-10 D. Tippett, Coyotes 50-25-7, 107 52-22-8, 112

2010-11 D. Bylsman, Penguins 49-25-8, 107 44-29-9, 97

2011-12 K. Hitchcock, Blues 43-15-11, 97 45-26-11, 101

2012-13 P. MacLean, Senators 25-17-6, 56 36-7-5, 77

2013-14 P. Roy, Avalanche 52-22-8, 112 46-21-15, 107

2014-15 B. Hartley, Flames 45-30-7, 97 48-28-6, 102

2015-16 B. Trotz, Capitals 56-18-8, 120 47-26-9, 103

Notes:

• 2012-13 season was shortened to 48 games

• Quenneville coached 78 games in 2008-09; Hitchcock coached 69 in 2011-12