Jon Cooper is about to make history as an NHL coach.
After Saturday’s afternoon road game at UBS Arena on Long Island, New York, with the Islanders, Cooper—now in his 14th season as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning—has a magic number of seven.
As highly successful as the Lightning is under Cooper’s leadership, highlighted by capturing back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021, it’s time for the skaters and goalies to step aside and let their coach soak up the spotlight.
Last season, on Nov. 27 in Tampa, Cooper celebrated his 900th career game coaching in the NHL. The 5–4 Lightning loss was overshadowed by Cooper’s individual accomplishments. The 19,092 hometown crowd, shoehorned into Benchmark International Arena, set aside the Lightning’s defeat to the Washington Capitals to cheer for their coach’s longevity employed in Florida’s Hillsborough County.
Cooper’s next bow should come on Dec. 31—New Year’s Eve—in Anaheim, California. The Lightning are scheduled to skate against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. When the referee drops the puck at center ice to start the game, Cooper will have worked on his 1,000th NHL game. The 590 victories and .638 winning percentage earned, all with Tampa Bay, puts Cooper in an exclusive coaching club.
Among the NHL coaching corps in 2025, Cooper is the longest tenured head coach among all 32 teams. Having replaced Guy Boucher in March 2013 during the NHL’s lockout-shortened season, Cooper remains a model of coaching consistency. His 900th game guiding the Lightning put Cooper behind just two current NHL coaches in games behind the bench. Only Florida Panthers’ Paul Maurice and Buffalo Sabres’ Lindy Ruff have coached in more games than Cooper.
Tampa Bay, after 31 games this season, is in first place of the Atlantic Division with 38 points. As Cooper valiantly attempts to deflect any media attention about his personal upcoming achievement, just this week, his team took a blow to the proverbial gut with the injury news concerning Lightning Captain Victor Hedman.
Injured in last Tuesday’s game with the Montreal Canadiens, it was announced late this week that on this coming Monday Hedman will undergo elbow surgery. He is expected to be sidelined until February but is expected to be back in time to skate in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games for Team Sweden.
As a highly successful NHL coach, Cooper’s communication skills with his players remain strong. Just last season, the Lightning were the top-scoring team in the league. They scored 292 goals over the 82 game schedule.
The high-powered offense, unfortunately for Cooper’s crew, didn’t translate successfully in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Lightning were bounced from postseason play in Round 1 by in-state rival and eventual Cup winner Florida Panthers last spring. After losing in six games to the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 Cup Final, Tampa Bay has been searching to regain their magic touch that brought them to the top of the NHL mountain.
However, panic hasn’t set in among Lightning fans or among the lineups Cooper sends out onto the ice. This past Thursday in Newark at Prudential Center, Tampa Bay came away with an 8–4 win over the New Jersey Devils. In their 34th NHL season, Tampa Bay’s coach remains under contract through the 2026–2027 season. There hasn’t been a hint from Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois of not keeping Cooper on the team’s bench for the foreseeable future.
Cooper’s connection with Tampa Bay dates back to 2010–2011, when being signed to coach the team’s then American Hockey League affiliate Norfolk Admirals. In his second season with the Virginia-based Admirals, Cooper guided the team to the AHL’s Calder Cup championship. That same season, Cooper was also named the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award; as AHL Coach of the Year.
Before getting bumped up as Boucher’s replacement in Tampa Bay, down on the hockey farm, Cooper was in the midst of a highly successful third season overseeing the Lightning’s AHL team in Syracuse, New York. At the time of his NHL promotion, Cooper had the Syracuse Crunch cruising through a schedule of 65 games, and accumulating an impressive 39–18–8 record. For half the franchise’s existence, Cooper and Tampa Bay have been a mutual match of respect and reliance.
Prior to being welcomed into the Lightning’s family, Cooper—like so many other NHL bench bosses—paid his dues in the lower levels of hockey. Before flying charter Jets to Lightning opponent’s cities, and before traveling almost exclusively by bus to AHL towns, it was by a combination of automobile, vans, and buses that Cooper slept to NAHL (North American Hockey League) communities along the Tier II junior league circuit in the United States. Surviving and learning by mentoring teenagers for seven seasons in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Texarkana, Texas, and St. Louis is what properly prepared Cooper for life on the NHL ranks.
Before jumping with both feet into hockey full-time, Cooper, after graduating from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan, worked as a public defender for several years. He found his true calling and hasn’t looked back.
With five home games scheduled for their upcoming seven tilts, Christmas, by all accounts, is coming twice for Cooper in the same week later this month. Dec. 31 in Anaheim will be a present for Cooper that has been 14 years in the making.
