It took a lot longer than it likely should have given his impressive coaching resume with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has won his first career Jack Adams Award as top coach in the NHL for the 2025-26 season.
Cooper became just the second Lightning bench boss to earn the award, as John Tortorella received it in 2004, the same year that he led the Bolts to their first Stanley Cup.
Cooper led the Lightning to a 50-26-6 record this season, which saw them finish second in the Atlantic Division, and fifth in the NHL as a whole, despite a number of injuries to key players throughout the season. It was the Lightning's first 50 win season since the 2021-22 season when they finished with 51 wins and 110 points on the season.
Cooper already has the third-most wins with a single franchise in NHL history with 622 victories behind the Bolts' bench. He also was the second-fastest coach in NHL history to hit 600 wins, he trailed the legendary Scotty Bowman by just three games.
While this is Cooper's first Jack Adams, given the fact that he's shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon, it likely won't be his last.