More NHL Playoffs: | | | | |No. 5: Darryl Sutter. He cracks the list over the other three for me because Quenneville is still incomplete, we need to see how his team handles this adversity, Dan Bylsma for the lack of attack in Game 3, and John Tortorella for that power play. Sutter deserves credit for guiding the in their quest for a repeat, no easy task. The trick right now is trying to get more 5-on-5 offense -- not just in goals but even chances -- and get that forecheck to be as strong as it was last year. No. 4: Claude Julien. What he has had to do in the past few games with such a banged-up defensive corps has been commendable at the minimum, and then you see how they have actually pushed the tempo and found good succe s. He has been forced to adjust on the Henry Thrun Jersey fly, and he's done it. It also helps being able to play half of every game.No. 3: Todd McLellan. Kind of crazy to think he was coaching for his job when the season began, but San Jose is playing some pretty good hockey, even if it's down 2-1 right now. They Sharks dismantled the Canucks and have been very strong vs. LA. The best improvement, which you can credit his staff as much as him for, is in the power play, a unit that has been humming along.No. 2: Paul MacLean. In the first round he navigated through a nasty series as the underdog and handled the media spats absolutely perfectly. He has had to work with a bit of a patch-work team that's only now getting healthy, so he's had to balance all of that in the proce s. Credit to him for having a team with such a tenacious attitude. No. 1: Mike Babcock. It's easy to see why Babcock is always considering a top coach in this league with how the Wings have progre sed. They are a better team now than at any point this season, and the defense, which was supposed to be a big problem this season, has been good to very good. He's done a heck of a job that's only getting better as the playoffs move along. Ty Dellandrea Jersey