–
Pittsburgh Penguins, represented by Latvian striker Teodors Blugers, have been recognized as the best coach of the upcoming Stanley Cup in a vote by National Hockey League (NHL) journalists Mike Sullivan, while the goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikkin’s unit Columbus “Blue Jackets” specialist John Tortorella 16 coaches in the competition ranked sixth.
The NHL has published on its official website the ranking of the best coaches who will take part in the playoffs. Twelve NHL journalists took part in the vote. Each of the authors compiled his own list of the 16 best coaches, awarding 16 points to the best hockey specialist and one point to the worst coach.
Penguins co-pilot Mike Sullivan took the top spot, receiving a total of 166 points. Pittsburgh has been injured this season as many matches have been missed by key players such as Sydney Crosby (28 games), Eugene Malkin (14 games), Jake Gencel (30 games), Patrick Hornqvist (17 games) and defenders Brian Dumolin (41 games). and Justin Schulz (23 games). Despite the gaps in the composition, the Penguins, led by Sullivan, were able to take the fifth place in the Eastern Conference, accumulating 62.3% of the maximum possible number of points.
According to us too. https://t.co/wpVpKGOXFw
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 23, 2020
If the Penguins are able to beat Montreal’s Canadiens resistance in the play-in round, this season will be the fifth consecutive time that the Penguins have entered the playoffs, or among the top 16 in the NHL.
Joel Kenneville of Florida Panthers earned second place (160 points), but Bary Trotz of New York Islanders was named the third best coach of the upcoming Stanley Cup (152 points).
The Blue Jackets co-driver ranked sixth in the Tortorella rankings, earning a total of 122 journalist points. In mid-March, the Blue Jackets were first in the league in terms of the total number of games missed due to injuries. Despite the fact that 10 of the club’s 28 hockey players have played less than half of the regular season matches, Tortorella was able to take the team to the playoffs, accumulating 57.9% of the maximum possible number of points.
Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella is one of the most experienced NHL specialists. He is the most victorious American coach in the history of the NHL, while in the list of the best specialists of all time with 575 victories in 1175 games, he ranks 18th respectively. 2003/2004 In 2012, Tortorella took the Tampa Lightning to the Stanley Cup, while in 2012 he fought with the New York Rangers until the Eastern Conference final.
Tortorella has also twice won the Jack Adams Award, which is given to the coach who has made the greatest contribution to the success of his team. For the first time in 2004 with “Lightning”, but for the second time in 2017 with “Blue Jackets”.
–
