John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets won the Jack Adams Award, presented annually to the coach who contributed most to his team's success. The other finalists were Todd McLellan of the Edmonton Oilers and Mike Babcock of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Torts finished first with 267 votes, beating out Babcock (182) and McLellan (181).
Torts came to Columbus in the 2015-16 after the team fired former head coach Todd Richards as the team started 0-7. Torts spent the rest of the season trying to build positive habits into a team that had struggled for them for several seasons.