Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has added another achievement to a storied NHL career.
Cooper on Wednesday was announced as the 2026 recipient of the Jack Adams Award, granted each season to the NHL coach “adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”
Members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association vote on the annual award. Cooper is the second coach in franchise history to win the Jack Adams Award, joining John Tortorella in 2004.
The league’s longest-tenured coach helped the Lightning to a ninth consecutive playoff berth in 2025-26 behind a 50-26-6 record and 106 standings points that tied for fifth in the NHL. This marked the organization’s first 50-win season since 2021-22.
The Lightning also finished among the NHL’s best for wins, goals, goals against, goal differential, road wins, regulation wins, comeback wins, penalty kill percentage and multiple other metrics during an injury-filled campaign.
Cooper became the second-fastest coach in league history to reach 600 wins with a 5-1 victory on Jan. 12 against the Philadelphia Flyers shortly after coaching in his 1,000th career game—all with Tampa Bay—on Dec. 31.
This marked Cooper’s third time as a finalist for the award. Voters picked Cooper for this year’s honor over fellow finalists Dan Muse (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Lindy Ruff (Buffalo Sabres).
