After years of sustained excellence and multiple near-misses, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has finally been named the winner of the 2026 Jack Adams Award. He’s been deserving of the award and he’s well respected around the NHL, including by the league’s best player in Connor McDavid. That said, there’s a lot of love going around for Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who was arguably the more deserving winner this season.
The NHL announced today that Cooper earned the honor as the league’s top head coach for the 2025-26 season. He beat out fellow finalists Lindy Ruff (Buffalo Sabres) and Dan Muse (Pittsburgh Penguins) in voting by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association. He was surprised with the award at the Coop’s Catch for Kids Cancer Lounge at @TGHCares.
A Long-Overdue Honor
Cooper, the longest-tenured active coach in the NHL, guided the Lightning to a strong 50-26-6 record (106 points) — their fifth 50-win season under his leadership and ninth consecutive playoff appearance. They finished 2nd in the Atlantic Division and continued their remarkable consistency under his guidance. He became the second-fastest coach in NHL history to reach 600 career wins.
This marks Cooper’s first Jack Adams win despite previous finalist appearances (2013-14 and 2018-19). He now joins John Tortorella as the only Lightning coaches to win the award.
In his post-award comments, Cooper thanked his players, staff, and the Lightning organization for their belief in his system over more than a decade. In fact, his system is so well implemented that McDavid’s comments about Cooper (whom he played for at the 4 Nations and the Olympics) caught people off guard. “They’re extremely well-coached, they’re extremely well-organized. They’re very rehearsed in everything they do. It’s very impressive.”
That led to many assuming McDavid was unhappy with the situation in Edmonton and some believing he would love to jump to Tampa to play for Cooper. He later clarified, “We’re not taking shots. It’s just everybody can be better, myself included. Everybody can be better. It was more just complimentary of a great team in this league that came in and played a good game. Nothing more than that.”
“Not sure how it was taken that way it wasn’t supposed to be that way. But I understand obviously, I understand how people could look at it that way, but it’s not what I was intending to do at all.”
Was Lindy Ruff Robbed?
There has been a lot of reaction to Cooper winning. Some of it in support of Lindy Ruff, who led the Buffalo Sabres to the playoffs and a long run. He was a front-runner to many and the feeling now seems to be that he got snubbed.
Mike Harrington wrote, “Going to the Hall of Fame someday. Great coach. Great with the media. Not close to the coach of the year in 2025-26. Some terrible groupthink by NHL Broadcasters Assocation. Writers don’t vote for coach of the year. The broadcasters do. And they blew it. What did Cooper do this year other than blow the division in the last month (and lose in the first round for 4th straight year)? Lindy Ruff and Dan Muse miles ahead of Cooper. Terrible vote.”
Others were calling the vote a joke.
What do you think?
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