To mark the three-quarter point of the 2025-26 regular season, NHL.com is running its fourth installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Jack Adams Award, given annually to the top coach in the NHL as selected in a vote by the NHL Broadcasters' Association.
There is one thing missing from Jon Cooper's resume:
The Jack Adams Award voted as NHL coach of the year.
That will change if the trajectory of a 16-person NHL.com panel stays the course by the end of the regular season. The Tampa Bay Lightning coach is the Adams favorite at the three-quarter mark of the season with 58 voting points and 11 for first place. Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres got 50 (two for first). Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche, who led voting at midseason, received 32.
One would think Tampa Bay (39-19-4) has done enough to earn Cooper the Jack Adams for the first time during what was projected a transition season following a third straight exit from the Eastern Conference First Round. Even while on track to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 12th time in 13 full seasons, it's been a professional and personal challenge for the 58-year-old.
The Lightning lost four in a row while getting outscored 20-8 from Feb. 26 to March 8, allowing the Sabres (39-19-6) to catch them for first in the Atlantic Division. There was an epic comeback from down 5-1 in the second period to defeat the Boston Bruins 6-5 in a shootout at the 2026 Navy Federal Union NHL Stadium Series on Feb. 1, Cooper later showing off his swag when he dressed as Al Pacino's Tony Montana from the 1983 film "Scarface." He coached Team Canada at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, one year after guiding it to the 4 Nations Face-Off championship, then returned with the bittersweet taste of a silver medal and mourned the death of his father, Robert.
"You can almost feel a little emotional for him," Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said in Toronto. "He's the best to ever do it in my opinion. He's won at every single level. There's a reason he's coaching the Canadian Olympic team. There's a reason he dresses like (Tony Montana) in games because he can.
“He's the best coach in this league, and the way he handles himself, especially in those ups and downs, that's not easy. To come around and still put a smile on his face after everything he's been through is pretty impressive. He treats us like his kids. We're one big family in here and it starts with him."
Tampa Bay went 20-1-1 from Dec. 20 to Feb. 25 with an 11-game winning streak, the longest in the NHL this season. It pushed through Victor Hedman's elbow surgery that sidelined its captain for 22 games and Brayden Point's lower-body injury (11 games) that deprived the forward his chance to play for Canada. Cooper and the Lightning are receiving a lift from forward Nikita Kucherov and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy contending for the Hart and Vezina Trophy, respectively.
The Lightning scored five unanswered goals to rally from down 4-1 in the second to take a 6-4 lead until losing 8-7 in Buffalo on Sunday, their fifth in sixth games that conceded the Atlantic Division lead to the Sabres. Tampa Bay is 1-2-0 against Buffalo but has two games in hand. They face each other once more on April 6.
"This team's been not only physically tough, but mentally tough, and we're being tested right now," Cooper said after a 4-1 loss at the Winnipeg Jets on March 5. "And when you play 82 games, you're going to get tested.
“We're in kind of those ruts right now. Now we've got to dig in and see what we have, so this is a good test for us."
This whole season has been a test of character and might be Cooper's finest work, even if he did guide the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships (2020, 2021).
"You can gain a lot of confidence off of continuing to win and playing the right way," Hagel said after the Stadium Series. "A lot of guys in this dressing room stepped up after getting called up. We've had a lot of injuries, and we still stayed the course and continued to play the same way. We've put ourselves in a really good spot."
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning, 58 points (11 first-place votes); Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres, 50 (2); Jared Bednar, Colorado Avalanche, 32; Dan Muse, Pittsburgh Penguins, 31 (1); Joel Quenneville, Anaheim Ducks, 29 (1); Todd McLellan, Detroit Red Wings, 14 (1); Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes, 6; Marco Sturm, Boston Bruins, 5; Patrick Roy, New York Islanders, 5; Glen Gulutzan, Dallas Stars, 4; John Hynes, Minnesota Wild, 3; Martin St. Louis, Montreal Canadiens, 3
