Andre Tourigny was hired as the head coach of the Arizona Coyotes before the 2021-2022 NHL campaign. Since then, he has increased the Coyotes' points and point percentage year-over-year for the last three seasons, which led the new ownership of the Utah Hockey Club to keep Tourigny as the head coach after acquiring the franchise.
He is entering his first year coaching the Utah Hockey Club, but this is his fourth year coaching this group of players. Tourigny is looking to help this young core take significant steps towards becoming a competitive team in the NHL, and for the first time in his tenure with the team, the front office has given him some help to make those steps.
With the Utah Hockey Club roster looking much more competitive than it has in past years as the Arizona Coyotes, can Tourigny follow in the footsteps of Dave Tippett and Bob Francis, two Phoenix Coyote coaches who won the Jack Adams Award in the last 25 years?
Can Utah Head Coach Andre Tourigny win Jack Adams in inaugural season?
According to most sportsbook oddsmakers, Utah Head Coach Andre Tourigny has an approximate 5-7% chance of winning this award. However, I think his chances are much higher than that.
Looking at the coaches above him on the odds board, you have Sheldon Keefe leading the way, which makes a ton of sense after he was fired from the Toronto Maple Leafs and joined a young, talented New Jersey Devils team that addressed their only issue, goaltending, by signing Jakob Markstrom.
But after that, you have Andrew Brunette, the Minnesota Wild head coach, who I don't see improving after a boring offseason, and Travis Greene, the Ottawa Senators head coach. We've waited for that team to take a big step for five years. Then you have Chris Knoblauch and Craig Berube. With Knoblauch coaching the Oilers, I wonder how he gets voted coach of the year when he has Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and Berube will join the Maple Leafs. This team is tied for the longest active streak for making the playoffs in consecutive years.
I like Tourigny's chances because this Utah team has the highest potential of any to make the most significant jump up the standings this season. They bolstered their top pairing by getting Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning and strengthed up the rest of their blueline by bringing in John Marino and Ian Cole. This team should be much better defensively this season, making Connor Ingram's job in the net much less stressful. Hopefully, that leads to more consistency from Ingram in the net as he has shown flashes of brilliance, finishing last season tied for the league lead in shutouts.
In addition to the defensive improvement, the Utah Hockey Club should continue to grow offensively as Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, Matias Maccelli, and Josh Doan continue to grow. Last year, this group averaged 3.07 goals per game; before, they averaged 2.70, and in 2021-2022, they averaged 2.49 (via NaturalStatTrick). If we see another offensive jump like this, Utah will be among the top 10 offences in the league.
This team will have real playoff potential if everything goes according to plan. If Tourigny gets this team into the playoffs, this could be his year to be recognized as coach of the year in the NHL and take home the Jack Adams award.