Jack Adams Award

Description: First awarded in 1973-74, the Jack Adams Award is presented annually “to the coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”

Voting: Members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association submit ballots for the Jack Adams Award at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists.

History: The Jack Adams Award was presented by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association in 1974 in honor of the late Jack Adams, longtime coach and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings.

2025-26 Winner: Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper won the 2025‑26 Jack Adams Award. Cooper, the second head coach in Lightning history to claim the Jack Adams (following John Tortorella in 2003‑04), received 36 first-place votes and was a top-three selection on 58 of 99 ballots for 226 voting points, prevailing over the Buffalo Sabres’ Lindy Ruff (223 points) and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Dan Muse (199 points) in the closest three-way Jack Adams race since balloting results for the trophy first were published in 1983‑84. Cooper’s winning margin (three voting points) also was the second-narrowest overall, behind the one-point win by Ruff over Peter Laviolette, 155-154, in 2005‑06. The longest-tenured active head coach in the NHL, Cooper led Tampa Bay (50‑26‑6, 106 points) to its ninth consecutive playoff berth (tied for the longest current run in the League) and 12th in his 13 full seasons at the helm of the franchise. The Lightning recorded their fifth 50-win campaign under Cooper’s guidance (and first since 2021‑22) as well as their seventh 100-point season. They placed among the 2025‑26 leaders (including shootout-deciding goals) in goal differential (2nd; +59), goals against (3rd; 231) and goals for (4th; 290). Tampa Bay also ranked among the NHL’s best in 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio (2nd; 1.29), road wins (t‑2nd; 24), regulation wins (3rd; 40), comeback wins (3rd; 24), third-period goal differential (3rd; +21), penalty kill efficiency (3rd; 82.6%), home wins (t‑3rd; 26) and points by defensemen (5th; 204) as Cooper – on Jan. 12 at PHI – became the second-fastest head coach in League history to reach 600 career wins (1,005 GC), behind only Scotty Bowman (1,002 GC).