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Short and Sour: No Jack Adams Love for Roy? Get Serious, NHLN.

I assume I am not the only one who looks in on the NHL Network for at least some of their television hockey news & coverage around the league. It is actually very nice to have, and overall a pleasant addition to sources like MHH.com to feed one's appetite for the puck.

However . . .

I don't know how many of you caught their recent segment where, at mid-season, two of their resident experts looked into their crystal balls (based on what we have seen so far this season) and projected their picks for likely winners of the league's major awards at the end of the year. I did.

Am I just being a homer? You tell me.

See, I was surprised and disappointed that Patrick Roy didn't make either of their lists for consideration of the Jack Adams Award (given, as you all know, to the coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success"). Not even included as an honorable mention. Really? Am I the one who's missing something here? I mean sure, big kudos go out to Bruce Boudreau and his steamrolling Ducks of Anaheim. No doubt. Also to Joel Quenneville and the stellar job he continues to do in Chicago. Both of these men were mentioned, and rightly. But how can you not throw Patrick Roy's name into the discussion? Both the Ducks and 'Hawks were widely expected to be very strong clubs this season, with a realistic chance to make a postseason charge. But where were the Colorado Avalanche on anyone's projection chart before the season? Answer: In a word ... "nowhere".. Roy has taken a team that finished dead last in the West last season and with much of the same personnel has turned them into the surprise story of the league. Find me a person who could have asked more of him. If what we have seen take place in Denver this season is not what constitutes excellence in team leadership at the top, then I guess I've never understood much about hockey (nor about sports in general). It is clear that this oversight on the part of NHLN's high profile hockey talkers bothered me a bit. They should know better. It's their job.

In summary: Things could certainly change, but at this point in time it is my view that Mr. Roy has distinguished himself beyond question as worthy of inclusion in the discussion regarding the 2013-2014 Jack Adams Award.

No doubt the best response is simply for the Colorado Avalanche to go about their business disproving their critics in the 2nd half of the season the same way they have done in the 1st. If they are able to do that, I don't see how the merits of what we Avalanche fans already recognize can remain hidden from the hockey world at large much longer.



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