Lightning's Jon Cooper finally named Coach of the Year, but it doesn't feel right

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was announced as the winner of the 2025-26 Jack Adams Award, giving him his first Coach of the Year honor. 

Cooper's resume in Tampa Bay is as good as any head coach in this era, leading the team to three Stanley Cup Finals, winning two of them, and owning one of the best records in the league during his tenure.

There were probably a handful of years over that stretch where he should have been the NHL's coach of the year.

This year did not feel like one of them, and it continues to highlight one of the biggest problems with both NHL Awards voting and the Jack Adams Award itself.

Lightning's Jon Cooper narrowly beats out Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff for Jack Adams Award

For most of the season, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff was going to be the runaway winner, mostly for helping to snap what had been a 14-year playoff drought. It was the longest drought in NHL history, and there were zero expectations for the Sabres to be anything even remotely competitive.

That was especially true into early December when the Sabres were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

But over the final four months of the season, the Sabres were one of the best teams in the league and not only made the playoffs, but they also won the Atlantic Division (over Tampa Bay). 

Even though it does not factor into the voting, the Sabres also went further in the playoffs than Tampa Bay, winning a first-round series and advancing to Game 7 of the second round.

That still wasn't enough.

Cooper narrowly won.