Jon Cooper, Dan Muse, Lindy Ruff Named Jack Adams Finalists
Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Muse, and Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff were named the finalists for the Jack Adams award, which is presented annually “to the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”
In a year flush with options for the award, each member of this trio still stands out. Cooper, who is the NHL’s longest-tenured head coach, led the Lightning to a 50-26-6 record. 
He was able to deftly manage significant injuries on his team’s blueline, with veteran stalwarts Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh limited to 33 and 48 games played, respectively.
In the face of those injuries, Cooper’s Lightning didn’t miss a beat, and he was able to get the most out of previously unheralded blueliners.
Cooper trusted undrafted 30-year-old Darren Raddysh as one of his team’s top defensemen in the absence of Hedman, and Raddysh rewarded his coach with a breakout 22-goal, 70-point campaign. He became just the second Lightning blueliner in franchise history to hit 70 points in a season.
Raddysh wasn’t the only undrafted blueliner to emerge for the Lightning. 28-year-old Charle-Edouard D’Astous, an elite blueliner in various leagues from the ECHL to SHL, was seamlessly integrated into Tampa’s lineup and put into positions to succeed. By the end of the season, D’Astous finished his rookie campaign with 29 points in 70 games, firmly establishing himself as an NHL defenseman.
For other coaches, dealing with so many injuries to key players can be a fatal blow to their team’s Stanley Cup hopes. For Tampa Bay, it served as an opportunity to integrate new faces into the lineup, and give new players a chance to have career-best campaigns. That, more than anything else, is why Cooper (and the rest of his staff) have been nominated for this award.
But Cooper isn’t the only deserving candidate. First-year head coach Dan Muse is another worthy option, as he guided the Penguins to a 41-25-16 record, good for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins entered the season considered by most to be a rebuilding club, a franchise with next to no hope of playing meaningful games in the spring. The Penguins not only beat those expectations, but they cruised into the playoffs.
The former New York Rangers and Nashville Predators assistant oversaw numerous players in his lineup who had career-best years, or campaigns that revitalized previously sagging career trajectories.
The Penguins made a bet that they could get the most out of struggling Blue Jackets first-rounder Egor Chinakhov, and that bet paid off as he scored 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games after his trade to the Steel City. He had six points in 29 games before the trade. Muse was able to manage an 18-year-old rookie’s transition to the NHL, guiding Benjamin Kindel to a successful 17-goal, 35-point debut campaign.
Numerous other players put up significantly improved performances under Muse’s watch, including veteran blueliner Erik Karlsson (66 points,) forward Anthony Mantha (64 points,) forward Tommy Novak (42 points,) defenseman Ryan Shea (35 points,) defenseman Parker Wotherspoon (30 points,) and forward Justin Brazeau (17 goals, 34 points.)
The formerly rebuilding Penguins took a risk to hire Muse, a first-time NHL head coach, in large part due to his exceptional reputation as a developer of players. For a team increasingly focused on youth, his track record in player development was seen as extremely valuable.
What most didn’t expect was for Muse’s leadership and player development acumen to pay dividends so quickly, and materialize in growth for players of all different ages and at varying stages of their careers. While the Penguins improved considerably as a team, it’s the widespread improvement Muse oversaw, player to player, that has gotten him nominated for this award.
Finally, the third nominee is Ruff, who achieved what for so many coaches seemed impossible and ended the Sabres’ league-leading playoff drought.
In his second stint in Western New York, Ruff has turned the Sabres into a sensation. Buffalo went 50-23-9 this season.
For the first time since 2010, the Sabres will be able to add a banner to the rafters of KeyBank Center as division champions.
Battling against the weight of the Sabres’ recent history, Ruff guided his team through significant early pressure, pressure that ended up costing GM Kevyn Adams his job. By the time the calendar flipped to the new year, Ruff’s Sabres had the makings of a juggernaut. They ended up storming to the top of the Atlantic Division, and have entirely reversed the league-wide conversation about the franchise.
The enormity of the achievement of returning the Sabres to the playoffs after so many failed attempts by the franchise is enough to qualify Ruff for the Jack Adams, and in a year where so many coaches have proven their quality, Ruff may very well be the favorite.
Photos courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images, James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Poll: Who Should Win The 2026 Jack Adams Award?
The NHL season is beyond its halfway point and the standings have turned into one of the closest races in recent memory. Teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres sit in playoff contention, while the back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers are on the outside looking in. Such a tight year has brought on a heap of questions. Buried under the team projections and playoff hopes sits an almost-impossibly tough question to answer: who should take home the Jack Adams Award as ‘Coach of the Year’ in a year like this?
The evergreen candidates are certain to be at the top of the list. Jared Bednar has worked out a miracle season with the Colorado Avalanche. Just one week away from February, the Avalanche have only lost six games in regulation and 15 in total. Their 35 wins in 50 games is the third-highest win-percentage (.790) since 2000, behind only the 2022-23 Boston Bruins and the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks. Bruins’ head coach Jim Montgomery won the Adams for his record-setting season but Chicago’s Joel Quenneville wasn’t awarded the same honors. That could mean Bednar has more to prove, even as his team decimates a quiet Western Conference.
Jon Cooper, Bruce Cassidy, and Rod Brind’Amour have each continued their own success through a new year. Each of the three – representing Tampa Bay, Vegas, and Carolina – sit in playoff contention on the back of familiar stars and breakout years.
But their success has become routine over recent years. The same can’t be said for the Buffalo Sabres, who have blazed a shocking season thanks to Lindy Ruff in his second year back with the club. Buffalo boasts a 29-17-5 record or .618 win-percentage, miles above the 36-39-7 and .482 win-percentage they set last season. Ruff was the last head coach to lead Buffalo to the postseason, all the way back in 2011. He took the club to eight postseason appearances, and one Stanley Cup Final, over 12 years with the club from 1998 to 2011. After a year to settle back into his spot, it appears Ruff could do it again, and snap the longest-running playoff drought in major men’s sports.
Ruff will lead a class of underdog candidates for the Jack Adams. He’s sat next to rookie NHL coach Dan Muse, a former staple of USA Hockey who brings unique tactics behind the bench. Muse is one of the league’s younger head coaches and has made do with a transforming Penguins lineup, bringing the best out of rookie Benjamin Kindel and second-chance winger Anthony Mantha. If that is enough to win out the Adams in a tight year is yet to be seen – though it’s certainly a statement way to start an NHL career.
Red Wings’ head coach Todd McLellan will hold a flame after leading the club to the top of the Atlantic Division following his usurping of Derek Lalonde last season. Montreal’s Martin St. Louis, Boston’s Marco Sturm, and Utah’s Andre Tourigny could also make the list – thanks to how well they’ve pulled together rosters in flux.
The race for Jack Adams is often closely-followed, but seems to carry a bit more weight in a season split between record-setting winners, drought-enders, and unsuspecting stars. Each candidate holds a strong case for taking home hardware this summer. Who do you think should hear their name called?
Who Should Win The 2026 Jack Adams?
-
Lindy Ruff, BUF 29% (222)
-
Dan Muse, PIT 22% (164)
-
Jared Bednar, COL 17% (127)
-
Jon Cooper, TBL 15% (116)
Total votes: 757
Mobile users click here to vote.
Penguins Name Dan Muse Head Coach
The Penguins have hired Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse as their next head coach, per a team announcement. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported minutes earlier that the hire was expected to get across the finish line.
Muse is a bit of a surprise hire. He was the most recent name to be reported as a candidate for Pittsburgh’s vacancy, linked just yesterday by Larry Brooks of the New York Post.
Not too long ago, it looked like the finalists for the Pens’ job were Capitals assistant Mitch Love and Kings assistant D.J. Smith. It became apparent that Love was out of the mix and replaced by Muse as a finalist yesterday, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period relays. Love was labeled a name on which Pittsburgh was relatively high from the beginning, but the Penguins will instead opt to poach a different assistant coach in their early 40s from a Metropolitan Division rival in Muse.
This will be Muse’s first chance to be an NHL head coach. He’s spent five years in the league as an assistant, first with the Predators from 2017-18 to 2019-20 before working under Peter Laviolette in Manhattan for the past two seasons. In the interim, he was a head coach for the United States National Team Development Program and coached the Americans to a gold medal at the 2023 U-18 World Junior Championship.
The development of the Penguins’ young players will be crucial over the next few seasons as they look to quickly return to contention as Sidney Crosby‘s, Kris Letang‘s, and Evgeni Malkin‘s careers wind down. That top-down ideology from general manager Kyle Dubas is extremely apparent with the hire of Muse, who’s won multiple accolades at the junior level – including a USHL championship as head coach of the Chicago Steel in 2017 before landing the AC job with Nashville.
Here’s Dubas’ full statement on Muse’s appointment:
During this process, we met with many candidates who we felt would have been a fit as the next head coach of the Penguins, but ultimately, Dan Muse stood out as the best choice. What separated Dan was his ability to develop players, win at all levels where he has been a head coach and his consistent success coaching special teams in the NHL. From his success in developing college and junior players, to his impactful work with veteran players during his time in the NHL, Dan has shown a proven ability to connect with players at all stages of their careers and help them to reach their potential. Additionally, his leadership of special teams units at the NHL level in both Nashville and New York produced elite results consistently. His overall body of work, attention to detail and vision for our group showed us that he is the best coach to take our team forward. We’re excited to welcome Dan, and his family, to the city of Pittsburgh.
As for the Rangers, they’ll need to continue their coaching overhaul under new bench boss Mike Sullivan, whom Muse succeeds in Pittsburgh. They’ll have an entirely new bench staff next season after firing associate coach Phil Housley and losing assistant coach Michael Peca to Jeff Blashill’s staff with the Blackhawks.
Metro Notes: Hurricanes, Burns, Muse
All signs indicate that the Carolina Hurricanes will take a page from the Nashville Predators’ book from last offseason. A new report from The Fourth Period suggests that the Hurricanes will be aggressive this offseason and look to weaponize their nearly $30MM in cap space.
Understandably, General Manager Eric Tulsky didn’t address specific targets, but indicated he’ll revamp his team through free agency, saying, “People always like to say, ‘we’re not gonna make a move just for the sake of making a move,’ and of course, we’re not. That goes without saying. But if there’s any chance to get better, we’re gonna take it. We have the full buy-in to spend to the cap, if there are ways to do it to get better. We have so much space and such a strong team, there’s no guarantees we can find ways to spend all that money, but we’re going to spend all summer trying.”
Carolina has already tried to take a swing at this year’s top target, Mitch Marner. Marner did not approve the proposed trade at that time, but the Hurricanes are expected to revisit the idea this offseason and entice Marner with a competitive, yet smaller media market in Raleigh.
Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:
- According to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour would like Carolina to use some of their cap space to retain veteran defenseman Brent Burns. Burns has already indicated he’d like to remain with the organization, but it could be a difficult sell for Tulsky’s analytical mind. The 21-year veteran has plenty to offer via experience and leadership, but his on-ice play took a dramatic hit this season, finishing with 14 fewer points than the 2023-24 season, with a 2.6% decrease in his CorsiFor% and a 2.0% decrease in his on-ice save percentage.
- Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that New York Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse remains a candidate for the Pittsburgh Penguins head coaching vacancy. Muse has no head coaching experience at the NHL level, but has served as the Rangers assistant coach for two years, and served in the same role with the Nashville Predators from 2017 to 2020. There’s no update on whether Muse will remain with the Rangers should he not be offered the job with Pittsburgh.