Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s 500-win milestone a rarity on many levels
TAMPA — Lightning coach Jon Cooper reached a historic milestone in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Kings at Amalie Arena, becoming the third-fastest head coach to reach 500 career NHL wins.
It took Cooper just 839 games to reach the mark. Only Scotty Bowman (825 games) and Bruce Boudreau (837) needed fewer. Even more impressive than the accomplishment is that Cooper is the fastest to 500 with one franchise.
“I think that’s probably the one thing you talk about with everything that’s happened,” Cooper said Tuesday. “But I never take that for granted that it’s a privilege to be in this league. To be able to just leave the arena and go to the same house every single day for the last, whatever, 11 or 12 years it’s been, it’s probably not the norm.”
It’s definitely not the norm.
Hall of Famer Toe Blake, who coached Montreal to eight Stanley Cups over 13 seasons from 1955-1968, previously was the fastest. He earned his 500th and final win with the Canadiens in his 911th game.
It’s an indicator of how the game has changed. Cooper’s run to 500 wins has been aided by the abolition of ties in the 2005-06 season, which made the march to victory milestones for legends like Blake and Bowman tougher.
But Cooper’s accomplishment also is a reminder that modern-day coaches don’t have the shelf life of their predecessors. It’s also a reminder of how patience and trust in Cooper allowed the Lightning to become one of the NHL’s model organizations.
Cooper, who was hired in March 2013 to replace Guy Boucher, has been the NHL’s longest-tenured coach for several years and the only one to stick in the same position for more than a decade. Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan, who was hired in December 2015, is next in line. Only three coaches — Cooper, Sullivan and Colorado’s Jared Bednar — have remained in their posts since the beginning of 2017-18.
This season, Cooper has seen several of his counterparts get fired as underachieving teams tried to save their seasons. Jay Woodcroft was fired in Edmonton 13 games into the season. Dean Evason lost his job in Minnesota after a slow start there. In St. Louis, Craig Berube was sacked little more than four years after lifting the Stanley Cup with the Blues.
In many cases, NHL head coaches are hired to be fired. But during Cooper’s tenure, the Lightning have won two Cups, and made four trips to the Cup Final and six to the conference final. Even when seasons fell short of expectations, owner Jeff Vinik and the front office have had faith in the process.
“I’m extremely fortunate to be able to be in a situation with the ownership and management that has been in place,” Cooper said. “And there’s a lot of trust — in my trust in them and their trust in me — and I think that’s a big reason why this has worked for a decade. And you know, have there been bumps along the way? There have. But I think that belief in each other is what’s kept us strong, and I’m truly thankful that I’ve been able to experience all 500 here.”
Asked about reaching the milestone, Cooper first mentioned the two cornerstone players who have been with him throughout his career — Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman — then gave credit to his coaching staff, which stayed mostly intact over the Lightning’s run to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins and three straight trips to the Cup Final.
This season unquestionably has been a challenge for Cooper, and if it ends in another deep playoff run following a first half of inconsistency, it might be one of his best coaching jobs yet.
Due to the salary cap, the Lightning are feeling the impact of losing players that helped them win championships. There are questions about the future of players like Stamkos, who is a free agent next summer, and then Hedman, who is slated for free agency after 2024-25. Cooper’s contract runs out at that time, too.
He’s expressed frustration over his team inability to get over the hump this season. The Lightning are better now than they were in October, and on many nights they’ve played well enough to win. But their mistakes often have ended up in their own net, resulting in losses. Despite their personnel losses, Cooper knows his team is too talented to be meandering in the Eastern Conference standings.
If there’s anything he’s instilled during his time behind the Lightning bench, it’s the belief in “process over outcome.” As his team tries to make a run to the playoffs in the second half of the season, he’s instilled a clean-slate mentality.
“He’s done basically everything you can possibly do (as a coach),” forward Brandon Hagel said. “Five-hundred wins, he obviously knows how to win. He knows how to win Stanley Cups, and being a young person I wouldn’t want any other coach coaching me.”
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