Avalanche coach Joe Sacco has been named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for NHL coach of the year.
Sacco is joined by the Phoenix Coyotes’ Dave Tippett and the Nashville Predators’ Barry Trotz. The winner will be announced on June 23.
Sacco guided the Avs from a last-place Western Conference finish in 2008-09 to a playoff berth this past season — the only Western team to have done that since the NHL expanded to 30 teams in 2000-01. The club opened the season on a 10-1-2 run and went on to post a 26-point gain over its total from 2008-09 (69 to 95), second in the NHL to the Coyotes’s 28-point increase.
Sacco, who played 14 years in the NHL, has two years remaining on his contract.
Tippett, hired less than a week before the start of the regular season, led the Coyotes to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, posting a 50-27-5 record for 107 points.
Trotz guided the Predators to the playoffs for the fifth time in the past six seasons with a 47-29-6 record for 100 points, placing third behind 2009 Western Conference finalists Chicago and Detroit. Nashville played its best hockey down the stretch, posting the NHL’s fourth-best record after the Olympic break (14-6-1).
In other Avalanche news, rookie center Matt Duchene has decided to play for Team Canada in the upcoming World Championships in Germany, starting early next month. A handful of other Avs players may participate as well, including TJ Galiardi for Team USA. Galiardi has dual citizenship as a Canadian and American.
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
