Despite being considered among the NHL’s best, Jon Cooper has never won the Jack Adams Award in his 12 full seasons as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cooper has the Lightning in position to reach the playoffs this season for the 12th time in the 13 years after taking over at the tail end of the 2012-13 season.

Canada’s Olympic head coach has finished second and third in Jack Adams voting in the past, but has never been recognized as the league’s coach of the year.

“It would be nice for him to get that acknowledgment at some point,” Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic. “But the reality is, whether he wins the Jack Adams or not, he’s a heck of a coach. He’s the best coach for us, and he’s going to go down as probably the greatest coach of his generation.

“And people don’t know how many Jack Adams Scotty Bowman has, but they know he’s got nine Stanley Cups. At the end of the day, you’re judged more on championships. Your legacy is built on those championships.”

Bowman won the Jack Adams twice during his storied 30-year career, in 1977 with the Montreal Canadiens and again in 1996 with the Detroit Red Wings. He remains the NHL record holder in points percentage (min. 205 games) at .657. Cooper is fourth on that list at .639 and behind only Rod Brind’Amour (.654) among active head coaches.

Cooper, who has a career record of 598-319-86, coached his 1,000th career game on New Year’s Eve as the Lightning picked up an overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are on an 8-game heater despite missing key players and this might be the deepest version of their squad dating back to their Cup years. New for ⁦@TheAthletic⁩, my chat with GM Julien BriseBois ⤵️ https://t.co/AJ95xZ1yV3

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 9, 2026

Tampa Bay has a 26-13-3 record this season, fighting for first in the Atlantic Division, currently sitting one point back of the Montreal Canadiens with two games in hand.

The Lightning have been unable to advance past the first-round of the playoffs in three straight seasons after reaching the Stanley Cup Final in each of the prior three, winning it all twice.

“There’s a number of teams that can legitimately aspire to win the Stanley Cup this season, and we feel like we’re one of them,” BriseBois said. “Yeah, we lost in the first round last year. We lost to the team that won the Cup. It’s a really, really good team.”

With that in mind, BriseBois told LeBrun he is ready to swing again if the opportunity presents itself at the trade deadline this year.

“Looking at our team this year, getting Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde at the trade deadline last year has made us a significantly better team,” he said. “They’ve improved our five-on-five play. They both play on special teams. They compete hard.

“To the extent there will be options for us to do that (again), we’re always going to be interested in doing that.”

The Lightning are without a first-round pick in each of the next two drafts, which could hinder their ability to make a significant move ahead of March 6.