Look, Jon Cooper deserved to win a Jack Adams Award at some point in his NHL career. The fact that he hadn't until 2026 is somewhat bonkers, but we're not here to examine that. Instead, we'd like to extend our most sincere stick taps to Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres for the fantastic work they put in this year.
Winning with grace is important, and while Cooper certainly deserves his victory lap with the Jack Adams, Muse and Ruff both have a lot to be proud of, coach of the year award or no. After all, few bench bosses know the feeling of piecing together a tremendous campaign only to see the trophy go elsewhere better than the Tampa Bay Lightning's own Cooper.
In fact, both Muse and Ruff had such compelling cases that we here at Bolts by the Bay were certain that this wasn't going to be Cooper's year.
Dan Muse turned back the clock for the Pittsburgh Penguins
Good luck finding a single pundit who predicted that the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to make the postseason in 2025-26. Over at The Athletic, Dom Luszczyszyn's model gave the Pens an 11% chance to make the playoffs during the preseason, for example--the third-lowest odds in the entire league. Dom's public work isn't gospel, but it's worth noting that he had both of the Stanley Cup finalists inside his top four before a single meaningful minute of hockey was played.
We mention this to illustrate just how behind the eight ball Muse's Pittsburgh team appeared to be this year. Some sharp work from General Manager Kyle Dubas certainly helped boost the Penguins in the midseason, but it was on Muse to integrate players such as Yegor Chinakhov into the lineup suceessfully.
Not only that, but it fell on the rookie bench boss to navigate a locker room chock full of veterans who have spent a tremendous amount of time playing with each other. Sidney Crosby, Evegeni Malkin and Kris Letang have a ton of loyalty to one another, and it would have been easy for Muse to lose the room.
He never did, and the Penguins were one of the most feel-good stories of the year as "Geno" rediscovered his game under Muse, while Erik Karlsson played so well that he snagged a few Norris Trophy votes. That work deserves praise, and it's only a matter of time before the 43-year-old coach wins a Jack Adams.
Lindy Ruff rains on the longest playoff drought in NHL history with the Buffalo Sabres
Books will likely be written about the Buffalo Sabres and the organization's multiple stalled rebuild attempts over the last decade and a half. Arguably the most embattled organization in the sport, the team's faithful fans suffered 14 consecutive campaigns without any playoff hockey.
Not only did Lindy Ruff help break that streak, but he also guided Buffalo to a divisional banner. Dom's model was much more kind to the Sabres--they had a 46 percent shot at making the playoffs according to his preseason rankings--but the story of actually doing it seemed like something the NHL Broadcasters' Association would latch onto when it came time to pick the Jack Adams Award winner.
They resisted what must have been a strong urge and gave the Trophy to Cooper, but the veteran Ruff deserves recognition and credit for being the man who finally got the Sabres into the postseason. Not only did they get there, but they even won a playoff round against the Boston Bruins before losing a hotly contested second-round matchup against the Montreal Canadiens.
A huge congratulations goes out to Jon Cooper for winning his first Jack Adams, but it doesn't take away from what Muse and Ruff were able to do with their respective teams this past season.
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