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In the final year of what’s been an undeniably successful contract for both the Tampa Bay Lightning and himself, the Bolts realized that they needed to keep him around, and the dotted line has finally been signed by way of a multi-year extension. No, I’m not talking about captain Steven Stamkos, but rather head coach Jon Cooper, who has officially signed a contract extension with the club.
Hired as an in-season replacement for Guy Boucher during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, the 48-year-old Cooper has been a wonder during his tenure in Tampa Bay, and has recorded 112 wins in just 205 games behind the bench (.602 winning percentage). Cooper’s 100th victory as a coach back in Apr. this past year made him the fifth-fastest coach to accomplish the feat since 2000, while the Prince George, British Columbia native also led the Bolts to their first 50-win season last year.
"I'm just a tiny little piece of this whole thing," Cooper said to the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday. "We've built such a team-first attitude that's one thing from our staff, our team, no one is sitting there saying we're taking credit for this or I'm taking credit for this. We're taking credit for this. And that's what has kept us together especially in difficult times."
In a remarkably short career as a head coach, Cooper has tasted success at multiple levels. He won a championship in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers in 2009-10, won the Calder Cup with the Norfolk Admirals in 2011-12, and brought the Bolts to their first Cup Final in 10 years last summer.
The next step, of course, is winning that Cup. That’s something Cooper has put his club in a prime situation to do with a team-first, depth-heavy philosophy that’s repeatedly put the Bolts’ talents -- young and old, drafted and undrafted -- on the ice in the best situations for the team and themselves.
Cooper, whose extension is believed to be for two years, currently trails former Lightning coach Terry Crisp by 29 wins for second place among wins by a Tampa coach, while he’s about three seasons and 126 wins away from dethroning John Tortorella as the franchise’s all-time winningest coach.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Boston Chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers Association since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.