Let’s get this out of the way: Jon Cooper is one hell of a coach, an all-time great. Having won the Stanley Cup twice and taken the Tampa Bay Lightning to the final on two other occasions, he will deservedly be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame someday.
Despite the absence of stud defenseman Victor Hedman for most of this season, he led the Lightning to 50 wins and 106 points.
Still, Cooper had no business winning the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year over the Buffalo Sabres’ Lindy Ruff. Zero.
Ruff’s work transforming the Sabres into a powerhouse ranks as one of the best coaching jobs in recent memory.
A team that ranked last in the Eastern Conference in early December enjoyed one of the most stunning in-season turnarounds in NHL history and finished on a 39-9-5 tear, winning the Atlantic Division and ending a league-record 14-year playoff drought.
Ruff, remember, guided the Sabres, one of the NHL’s youngest teams, as captain Rasmus Dahlin handled his fiancée’s illness and occasionally missed games to visit her in Sweden.
He led a group that had never experienced any notable success together through the great unknown as they became a target each night down the stretch.
In the process, the Sabres never let up, morphing into a tight-knit team that took pride in being one of the league’s best ensembles. Everyone seemed to buy into what Ruff and his staff preached.
Revamping the culture of a team mired in the greatest stretch of futility in NHL history will be remembered as one of the greatest accomplishments in Ruff’s distinguished coaching career.
When the Sabres began their 10-game win streak on Dec. 9, they trailed the Lightning by eight points in the division. When the Sabres began their eight-game win streak on Feb. 25 following the Olympic break, they trailed the first-place Lightning by eight points.
The Sabres erased that deficit, earning 50 wins and 109 points. Isn’t the coach whose team roared back more deserving than the coach whose team frittered away a seemingly commanding lead?
Well, here’s the thing: Cooper, the NHL’s longest-tenured coach and long considered one of its best, had never won the Jack Adams.
Why? Who knows? Ballots are cast by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association before the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It feels like the broadcasters wanted to make things right with Cooper, perhaps give him the only thing missing on his superb resume.
But the trophy’s not a lifetime achievement award. Ruff was the NHL’s best coach this season.
A strong argument can be made Dan Muse, who finished third after leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 98-point finish and an unlikely playoff berth, was more deserving than Cooper. Most prognosticators figured the rebuilding Penguins would miss the postseason again.
Cooper won the tightest three-way race (226-223-199) since the NHL began publishing voting results in 1983-84.
The three-point victory over Ruff was second-narrowest ever. Coincidentally, Ruff bested Peter Laviolette 155-154 when he won his only Jack Adams in 2005-06.
Points are awarded on 5-3-1 basis. Of the 99 ballots cast, only 26 gave Ruff a first-place vote. Cooper received 36 first-place votes and Muse 18.
Ruff received 26 second-place votes and 15 third-place votes.
One more first-place vote would’ve given him the trophy he deserved. A group of voters who should’ve been able to recognize a remarkable coaching job blew it.