Key Takeaways
- Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning), Dan Muse (Pittsburgh Penguins), and Lindy Ruff (Buffalo Sabres) are the three finalists for the 2025‑26 Jack Adams Award.
- Cooper, the NHL’s longest‑tenured head coach, is chasing his first Adams after guiding the Lightning to a ninth straight playoff berth and multiple 50‑win, 100‑point seasons.
- Muse, in his inaugural NHL season, revived a Penguins squad that had missed the playoffs three years in a row, navigating a league‑high 44 different players due to injuries.
- Ruff returned the Sabres to the postseason for the first time in 14 years, delivering a franchise‑best 109‑point season, a division title, and the second‑largest point improvement in the league.
- The award is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association; the top three vote‑getters become finalists.
The National Hockey League announced on Friday that Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres have been named the finalists for the Jack Adams Award, which honors the head coach judged to have contributed the most to his team’s success during the 2025‑26 regular season.
Jon Cooper, now 58, is in his 13th season behind the Lightning bench, making him the league’s longest‑tenured active head coach. Under his stewardship, Tampa Bay has achieved a remarkable run of consistency: nine consecutive playoff appearances, five seasons with at least 50 wins, and seven campaigns eclipsing the 100‑point mark. The Lightning also ranked among the league’s elite in both offensive and defensive production, finishing in the top five for goals scored per game and goals allowed per game. Their special teams were a particular strength, boasting the NHL’s third‑best penalty‑kill unit at an 82.6 % success rate. Cooper has previously been a three‑time Adams finalist; a victory this year would mark his first award and make him the second coach in Lightning history to capture the honor, following John Tortorella’s win in 2003‑04.
Dan Muse, 43, entered the 2025‑26 season as a rookie NHL head coach after being hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the offseason. He inherited a team that had missed the playoffs for three straight seasons and was tasked with turning the franchise around. Muse’s first year was defined by constant roster shuffling; injuries and inconsistencies forced the Penguins to ice a league‑high 44 different players over the course of the schedule. Despite the churn, Muse guided Pittsburgh back to the postseason, where they fell in a hard‑fought first‑round series to their cross‑state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. Should Muse win the Adams, he would become the first rookie head coach to claim the award since Patrick Roy captured it in 2013‑14, and he would join Dan Bylsma and Michel Therrien as the only Penguins coaches ever to be Adams finalists. Bylsma won the trophy in 2010‑11.
Lindy Ruff, 66, is embarking on his second stint with the Buffalo Sabres. After a lengthy absence, Ruff returned to the bench and immediately sparked a renaissance in Buffalo. The Sabres snapped a 14‑year playoff drought—tying the NFL’s New York Jets for the longest active postseason absence among major American sports franchises—by clinching a playoff spot under his direction. Ruff’s squad recorded the franchise’s third 50‑win season, amassing 109 points, the fifth‑highest total in Sabres history. The team also captured its first division title since the 2009‑10 season, which coincidentally occurred during Ruff’s first tenure with Buffalo. The Sabres’ 30‑point leap from the 2024‑25 campaign ranked as the second‑largest improvement in the league, trailing only the San Jose Sharks. Ruff’s résumé already includes an Adams victory from 2005‑06, when he led Buffalo to a 53‑win season and an Eastern Conference finals appearance. This year marks his fifth Adams finalist nod, tying him with Scotty Bowman, Alain Vigneault, and John Tortorella for the most finalist appearances in NHL history.
The Jack Adams Award voting is conducted by members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association, who submit their ballots at the conclusion of the regular season. The three coaches receiving the highest vote totals are designated as finalists, with the winner announced later in the awards ceremony. As the race heads into its final stretch, Cooper’s sustained excellence, Muse’s impressive turnaround in his debut year, and Ruff’s historic revival of the Sabres each present a compelling case for why they deserve to be named the league’s top coach for the 2025‑26 season.