The NHL's longest-tenured coach is finally being recognized.
The Tampa Bay Lightning revealed Jon Cooper as the 2026 Jack Adams Award winner on Wednesday.
The award is granted each season to the coach who is "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success."
He is a first-time recipient of the award after being nominated three times and joins John Tortorella (2004) as just the second coach in Lightning history to win.
The other finalists were Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres.
Cooper led the Lightning to a ninth straight playoff appearance with a 50-26-6 record for 106 points, finishing second in the Atlantic Division and tied for fifth in the NHL.
Tampa Bay also ranked among the NHL's top teams in multiple metrics, including goals, goals against, goal differential, road wins, regulation wins, comeback wins and penalty-kill percentage.
The 58-year-old Prince George, B.C., native was surprised with the honour while attending a ribbon-cutting at the Coop's Catch for Kids Family Lounge at Tampa General Hospital.
He has served as the Lightning's head coach since being hired midway through the 2012-13 season.
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