Will Mike Babcock finally win coach of the year?

Depending on how you look at it, the 15 so-called "loser points" the Toronto Maple Leafs have collected this season for falling in overtime or the shootout — an NHL high — could sneak them into the Stanley Cup playoffs and get Mike Babcock his first coach of the year award.

Or, the 15 points the Maple Leafs have left on the table by failing to convert those opportunities into wins could cause them to miss the playoffs and keep Babcock from winning the Jack Adams Award.

If the Maple Leafs make it to the post-season, even as a lower seed, Babcock should certainly be in the coach of the year conversation. After all, Bob Hartley won the Adams two years ago after his Calgary Flames came out of nowhere to finish 16th overall and make it into the playoffs as the third-place finisher in the Pacific Division.

It is absolutely preposterous that Babcock has never been named the NHL's coach of the year.

Widely regarded as the best coach in the league, the 53-year-old native of Manitouwadge, Ont., was the runner up to Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche in 2014 when he coached the Detroit Red Wings. In 2007-08 when the Babcock-coached Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, the Adams went to Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals while Guy Carbonneau of the Montreal Canadiens was the runner-up.

Prediction: Pain

Babcock knew exactly what he was getting into when he signed an unprecedented eight-year contract to coach the Maple Leafs. This is an organization that had been basically spinning its wheels, with the occasional good year tossed in, since its last Stanley Cup championship in 1967.

So it was no shocker that, on the day he was unveiled as the Maple Leafs' new coach, Babcock famously predicted "there will be pain" when discussing the team's rebuilding plan.

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Two years in, the Maple Leafs are ahead of schedule. While still building mainly through the draft, the Leafs find themselves with a legitimate opportunity to make it into the playoffs after three years on the sidelines.

Unquestionably, the skill level has been ratcheted up with the arrival of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, among others, but Babcock must be credited with instilling discipline on and off the ice that previously did not exist.

Young guns

Toronto, it should be noted, has three of the top four scoring rookies in the NHL: the aforementioned Matthews, Marner and Nylander. Six of the top 19 scoring freshmen play for the Maple Leafs, with Connor Brown checking in at 11, Nakita Zaitsev at 12 and Zach Hyman at 19.

Under Babcock, Nazem Kadri has developed into a solid two-way centre who can do a good job going head to head with the opposition's top centre while still managing to remain second on the team with 28 goals. Matthews, a 19-year-old rookie, has 32.

Few gave the Maple Leafs much of a chance to make the playoffs this season, but the addition of goaltender Frederik Andersen and Babcock's ability to convince his players to compete and play "the right way" has them right in the thick of things.

There are a handful of coaches deserving of consideration for the Jack Adams Award, among them Barry Trotz of the Washington Capitals, John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Guy Boucher of the Ottawa Senators, Bruce Boudreau of the Minnesota Wild and Glen Gulutzan of the Calgary Flames.

However, if Babcock gets the Maple Leafs into the playoffs in just his second year behind the bench, having employed seven rookies full-time and centre Frederik Gauthier for 21 games, he should get serious consideration for the award.