Lightning's Jon Cooper named NHL's top coach for 1st time

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Jun 3, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — Of all the accomplishments Jon Cooper has had with the Lightning, he’s always said that the lasting legacy he wants to leave in Tampa Bay is through his community work.

The head coach has raised $1.5 million toward pediatric cancer research and support through his annual fishing tournament.

On Wednesday afternoon, Cooper arrived at Tampa General Hospital for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Coop’s Catch for Kids Family Lounge, a space at Muma Children’s Hospital that will benefit pediatric cancer patients, as well as their families and friends.

Little did he know that several of the kids he’s befriended through his charitable work would be there to help celebrate the one individual coaching honor that’s long eluded him.

The ceremony ended up being a surprise event for Cooper, who received the Jack Adams Award, given to the league’s top coach as selected by members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association.

Cooper — who was selected for this year’s award ahead of Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff and Pittsburgh’s Dan Muse — was a finalist for the award two previous times: He finished third in his first full NHL season in 2013-14 and was the runner-up in Tampa Bay’s Presidents’ Trophy-winning season in 2018-19.

But the Jack Adams, a regular-season honor, typically goes to a coach who has exceeded expectations — which was the case with both Ruff and Muse this season — so Cooper’s candidacy has often gone overlooked as the Lightning have established themselves as an annual Stanley Cup contender over the past dozen seasons.

Meanwhile, Cooper has built a Hall of Fame resume, guiding the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins, four Cup finals, six conference finals and playoff berths in 12 of his 13 full seasons behind the Lightning bench. In January, Cooper became the second-fastest coach to 600 career wins and just the fourth active coach to reach the mark.

While this season didn’t end with a Stanley Cup — the Lightning lost to the Canadiens in seven games in the first round — it might have been his best coaching job because of how ravaged the Lightning were by injuries.

The Lightning had 339 man games lost due to injury, not including the 14 games captain Victor Hedman missed while taking a personal leave of absence to address his mental health. The Lightning were especially banged up on the back end, with defensemen Hedman (49 games), Ryan McDonagh (34) and Emil Lilleberg (33) all missing at least 33 games. Centers Nick Paul (31) and Brayden Point (19) also missed significant time.

The Lightning rebounded from their worst start under Cooper, losing six of their first seven games (1-4-2), to going 20-1-1 over a stretch from Dec. 20 to Feb. 25, jumping to the top of the Eastern Conference standings in the process. They finished the season with 106 points, tied for the third most in the East and their most since their last trip to the Cup final in 2022.

Cooper also overcame a personal setback. Upon returning from the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, where he coached Team Canada to a silver medal, he found out that his father, Bob, had died.