Cooper Earns Top Coaching Honors, Wins 2026 Jack Adams Award

Tampa Bay Lightning Coach Jon Cooper has won the 2026 Jack Adams Award, earning his NHL Coach of the Year honors. Photo Credit: Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

By Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

You can add one more accolade to the long list of accomplishments for Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper: 2026 Jack Adams Award winner for "contributing the most to his team's success."

The announcement and trophy presentation were made on Wednesday as the long-tenured Cooper was at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Coop's Catch for Kids Family Lounge at the Muma Children's Center Hospital at Tampa General.

The room was funded by the proceeds of Cooper's annual charity fishing tournament and serves pediatric cancer patients, their families, and friends while they are in the hospital.

Cooper guided the Lightning to a 50-26-6 record, 106 points, and a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division, the team's first 50-win season since the Stanley Cup runs. This was also Tampa Bay's third 100+ point season in the past five years.

"I thought this day would never come," a surprised and humble Cooper said when the trophy was presented to him at the ribbon-cutting.

"This trophy, who it's named after, the people whose names are on this," Cooper said as he gazed upon the Jack Adams award. "You almost don't feel worthy of it. It's amazing."

Cooper joins John Tortorella as the second Lightning coach to win the coveted award annually given to the best coach in the league. Tortorella, currently coaching the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals, won the award in 2004.

"This (year) was just different, and I think, yeah, we didn't win 62 games this year (as in 2019 when he was last a finalist)," Cooper said. "We won 50, but all the things that went into it and our start, stuff like that, this is almost more rewarding."

Cooper coached his 1,000th career game on December 31st, all with Tampa Bay, and became the second-fastest coach in league history to reach 600 wins, doing so with a 5-1 victory on January 12th against the Philadelphia Flyers.

"This is an individual recognition in a bigger team atmosphere, but understanding that, this is just another step between us getting back to the Stanley Cup," Cooper said. "And if this isn't more motivation for myself and everybody, I don't know what is."

This was Cooper's third nomination. The 13-year coach, longest tenured in the NHL, beat out Pittsburgh's Dan Muse and Buffalo's Lindy Ruff for the honor.

"I've been extremely fortunate to be nominated three times," Cooper said. "And to me, if you find yourself in the final three, that's pretty damn sweet."

"It was ups and downs during the season," Cooper reflected. "You look back, and you're like: 'Wow! You would have loved to spread a lot of that stuff out over the years instead of what happened in the last eight months.'

"It's tough too, because my mom and dad are no longer with us, so they didn't get the opportunity to see this event, but they are definitely here with me now."

Members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association vote on the annual award.