After a decade of close calls in his career, including two previous finalist nominations, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper can finally fill the empty spot on his mantle that was reserved for a Jack Adams award. On Wednesday, the league announced that the NHL Broadcasters’ Association had voted him the coach “adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success”.
To say it was a trying season behind the bench is an understatement. Injuries forced the Lightning to use 30 different skaters and 3 goaltenders throughout the season. At times, he had to put out a line-up that didn’t have his captain (Victor Hedman), his number one goaltender (Andrei Vasilevskiy), or his top center (Brayden Point). For several stretches of the season his defensive rotation featured several players with just a handful of NHL games under their belt.
The Lightning had eight rookies play at least one game this season while also getting key contributions from players that had minimal time in the NHL like Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Steven Santini, Conor Geekie, and Jakob Pelletier. Yet they still managed to accumulate 106 points and win 50 games for the fifth time in franchise history.
Along the way Coach Cooper became the second fastest coach to win his 600th game and managed his 1,000th game from behind the bench, becoming the fifth coach in league history to do it with one team. Oh, and he also had the pressure of coaching Team Canada in their first trip to the Olympics with NHL players since 2014. Upon returning from Milan, he had to also deal with the passing of his father, Robert.
Despite their injuries to key players, and a bit of a post-Olympic slump, the Lightning still finished 4th in goals scored (286), 3rd in goals against (229), 3rd in penalty-kill (82.6%), while also being a top ten team in expected goals against, expected goals for, high-danger chances for, and high-danger chances against. Not too shabby.
He was surprised with the trophy while hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Coop’s Catch for Kids Family Lounge at the Muma’s Childrens’ Hospital at Tampa General Hospital.
SURPRISE! Your 2026 Jack Adams Award winner is none other than Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, who was just surprised with the award here at the Coop’s Catch for Kids Cancer Lounge at TGH. Congrats to Coop for a well deserved recognition! #GoBolts
— Benjamin Pierce (@boltsben.bsky.social) June 3, 2026 at 2:35 PM
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Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff and Pittsburgh’s Dan Muse were the two other finalists for the award.
Congratulations, Coop!
