Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar is the clear favorite to win this season's Jack Adams Award, which is given to the league's top coach, but the Buffalo Sabres' Lindy Ruff may be emerging as a sleeper candidate.
David Quadrelli and Irfaan Gaffar of Daily Faceoff conducted an anonymous poll of NHL executives, agents and players. Ruff, whose Sabres sit ninth in the Eastern Conference after a recent hot streak, received the third most responses behind Bednar and Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"If the Sabres make the playoffs, their coach wins it," an NHL executive said.