Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres are the finalists for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach, the league revealed on Friday .
Since 1974, the NHL has given the Jack Adams Award to the coach deemed to have “contributed the most to his team’s success.” The NHL’s Broadcasters Association votes on the award.
Muse led the Penguins, a team many projected to miss the playoffs this season, into second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins also finished with the third-most goals in the league. Muse took the Pittsburgh job this season after years working as an assistant with the Nashville Predators and the New York Rangers, and at the NCAA level and with the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Despite being the longest-tenured active coach in the NHL and being a finalist twice, Cooper, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, has never won the Jack Adams Award. This season, Cooper led the Lightning to a ninth consecutive playoff appearance and a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division, and they recorded their first 50-win season since 2021-22, the season the Lightning last reached the Stanley Cup Final. This season, the Lightning finished in the top five in goals for and goals against, both overall and per game.
Ruff is a three-time Jack Adams finalist, and he won the award in 2006 during his first coaching stint with the Sabres. Ruff was last named a finalist in 2023 when he coached the New Jersey Devils. This season, Ruff, 66, coached the Sabres to their first Atlantic Division title since 2010 and their first playoff berth since 2011, guiding them to a 39-9-5 record after Dec. 9. Buffalo finished the season with the fourth-best record in the NHL.
“That just means that our coaching staff did one hell of a job,” Ruff said of being a finalist. “This isn’t a one man job, and the hours these guys have put in and where we got to is a complete team effort.”
The winners for the Jack Adams Award will be announced in June. Last year’s winner was Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery.
