Jon Cooper, Dan Muse and Lindy Ruff are the three finalists for the 2026 Jack Adams Award.
The honour is bestowed upon the NHL’s coach of the year.
A two-time finalist previously, the 58-year-old Cooper has never won the award. He led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a ninth-straight postseason appearance this season. A native of Prince George, BC, Cooper has won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning and is in his 14th season with the team.
Muse, 43, just completed his first season behind the bench of the Pittsburgh Penguins, leading the team to a surprise playoff appearance. The native of Canton, MA, previously served as an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators and New York Rangers under Peter Laviolette. Muse also spent time with the United States National Team Development Program.
Ruff’s Buffalo Sabres were the biggest surprise of the NHL season, winning the Atlantic Division and ending a 14-year playoff drought, the longest such dry spell in the big four sports. A 66-year-old native of Warburg, Alta., Ruff is in his second spell with the team, having previously served as head coach from 1997 to 2013. he previously won the award in 2006.
The NHL awards will be handed out later this spring.
