Cassidy guided the Bruins to the best record in the NHL (44-14-12, .714 points percentage) and the Presidents' Trophy as the top regular-season team. Boston was eight points ahead of the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division, the largest margin for any division leader, when the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
The Bruins allowed the fewest goals in the NHL (167, 2.39 per game) and were tied with the Philadelphia Flyers for seventh in scoring (227 goals, 3.24 per game). They were second to the Edmonton Oilers on the power play (25.2 percent) and third in the NHL on the penalty kill (84.3 percent). Cassidy was a finalist for the award in 2017-18.
RELATED: [NHL Jack Adams Award Winners]
Boston, which was the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference for the Stanley Cup Playoffs following the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the Eastern Conference First Round before losing to the Lightning in five games in the second round.
"You still want to be playing first and foremost, that's the first thing that crossed your mind," Cassidy said. "But unfortunately we're not in. Tampa deserved to win and they get to move on. When it comes to personal stuff I look inward to my family first. It's been a long ride, some ups and downs and obviously starting basically at the bottom back in Providence and working your way up so I'm thankful and grateful to them."
The award was voted on by members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association before the playoffs began. Cassidy was named on 82 of the 132 ballots, including 37 first-place votes, for 288 points. Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers received 32 first-place votes and 252 points to finish second. John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets was third (28 first-place votes, 198 points).
In his first season in Philadelphia, Vigneault coached the Flyers (41-21-7, .645) to the No. 1 seed in the East after they missed the postseason in 2019. The Flyers lost to the New York Islanders in seven games in the second round.
Tortorella guided Columbus (33-22-15, .579) to the playoffs for the second straight season after losing key players in free agency and dealing with numerous injuries. The Blue Jackets were defeated by the Lightning in five games in the first round.
Cassidy and the Bruins lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the St. Louis Blues last season.
"That was a challenge for us to get over that hump of losing," Cassidy said. "We came up with the line that we had some unfinished business. I think it worked for us early on to make sure we were focused on what we want to achieve going forward. Obviously we didn't finish that business but I think it was a good mantra for us for the early part of the year to get us excited to play those October, November games after coming off the high intensity ones in May and June."
The 2020 NHL Awards had been scheduled for June 18 in Las Vegas but were postponed March 25.
2020 Jack Adams Award voting
Points (1st-2nd-3rd)
1. Bruce Cassidy, BOS 288 (37-29-16)
2. Alain Vigneault, PHI 252 (32-23-23)
3. John Tortorella, CBJ 198 (28-12-22)
4. Craig Berube, STL 126 (12-18-12)
5. Jared Bednar, COL 96 (6-18-12)
6. Mike Sullivan, PIT 77 (4-15-12)
7. Dave Tippett, EDM 62 (4-8-18)
8. Paul Maurice, WPG 30 (3-3-6)
9. Jon Cooper, TBL 20 (3-1-2)
10. Travis Green, VAN 18 (2-2-2)
11. Rod Brind'Amour, CAR 5 (1-0-0)
t-12. Rick Bowness, DAL 5 (0-1-2)
t-12. David Quinn, NYR 5 (0-1-2)
14. Barry Trotz, NYI 3 (0-1-0)
t-15. Peter DeBoer, VGK 1 (0-0-1)
t-15. Joel Quenneville, FLA 1 (0-0-1)
t-15. Geoff Ward, CGY 1 (0-0-1)
