Let’s start with this: the Jack Adams Award isn’t a lifetime achievement award. What happened over the previous decade doesn’t matter. It’s a trophy given to the NHL’s Coach of the Year this season. Plain and simple.
For the 2025-26 campaign, that makes Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff the clear choice. Period. And yet, somehow, there’s been a push in recent weeks to hand it to Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning—plus it kept rolling Monday with a poll run by Misryoum newsroom reported. The argument, though, still feels borderline laughable.
One unnamed voter told Misryoum newsroom that “There are two right answers here — Cooper and Lindy Ruff. Tie goes to the runner because it’s an atrocity that Cooper hasn’t won this award yet,” adding an Oscar analogy about Leo DiCaprio and “The Revenant.” Misryoum editorial team understands the temptation to reward someone who’s due, but that’s not how voting should be treated. Cooper is good—very good—but this award is about the season in front of you, not a “not yet” list.
Still, Misryoum points out the case for Cooper isn’t empty. He deserves credit for helping the Lightning navigate a series of key injuries to remain near the top of the Eastern Conference. It also helps that Tampa has Nikita Kucherov, who ranks second in the NHL with 130 points, and the league’s best goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy. That said, Ruff’s body of work is operating on a different level of difficulty.
Ruff, for his part, also juggled no shortage of injuries throughout the campaign. But he led the Sabres from the bottom of the East on the morning of Dec. 9 to the conference’s No. 2 seed in the playoffs, and yes, without Art Ross or Vezina Trophy front-runners on his roster. Misryoum newsroom doesn’t see how anyone can watch that kind of climb and still pretend the award is more “what should have happened” than “what did happen.”
If there was any lingering debate about the clear Jack Adams favorite, it should’ve ended Monday night when Buffalo clinched the Atlantic Division title over Tampa Bay. The Bolts finishing atop the division standings was the last avenue to an argument for Cooper. It’s now gone. Handing the award to the longtime leader of Tampa’s coaching staff just because he didn’t win it in the past, when he probably deserved it, would be an injustice. That’s not how voting should work.
Common sense, hopefully, yields Ruff his second Jack Adams trophy. His first came with the Sabres back in 2006, which would represent the longest gap between winning the award in NHL history. Taking a team that entered the season with serious questions about its scoring depth, defensive aptitude and goaltending stability to fourth place in the NHL standings with 108 points is a remarkable accomplishment—one that deserves to get recognized with the league’s highest coaching honor. And if you want a consolation prize for Cooper, give it another year.
There’s also the human reality around Ruff’s situation, because the conversation isn’t only about the trophy. Questions remain about Lindy Ruff’s Buffalo Sabres coaching future ahead of the team’s long-awaited playoff return, especially since his contract is set to expire at season’s end. There’s been speculation about the 66-year-old Canadian potentially retiring from coaching and shifting to a less strenuous executive role—though it doesn’t sound like that’s on his mind at the moment. Misryoum editorial desk noted that in a recent interview with NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Ruff discussed the staff’s “just one more” mindset and circled back to that phrase when asked about his future, hinting he’d like to remain in the role for a bit longer: “When we get to that ‘Just one more,’ we’ll see if it’s just one,” Ruff said.
Buffalo general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, who said after taking over the front office in December that everyone would be evaluated for the remainder of the campaign, declined to comment when asked about a potential contract extension for Ruff by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, saying it’s merely his stance to never comment on personnel matters. Even without any indication Kekalainen wants to move on from Ruff, Misryoum can’t ignore the owner side of things: Terry Pegula fired Ruff the first time back in February 2013 during the early stages of what became a record-setting 14-year playoff drought. So… it’s hard to imagine he’d do it again after the Blue and Gold reversing fortunes over the past four months.
Ruff, by leading the unexpected turnaround this season, has earned the right to stay behind the bench for at least a few more years if that’s what he wants. A short-term extension—maybe another two seasons—makes the most sense for both sides. The one caveat? A Stanley Cup title. It’s the one thing Ruff hasn’t accomplished during a lifetime of hockey, and if the Sabres can pull it off—yes, in a loaded Eastern Conference—then the fan-favorite
could choose to retire on the ultimate high note. Misryoum newsroom adds that his group isn’t the favorite; HockeyStats.com gives the club a 6% chance to raise the Cup, tied for the NHL’s seventh-best odds. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility. And beyond a championship parade in downtown Buffalo—where you can almost picture the noise, the smell of street food, the sudden rush of voices—expect to see Ruff back behind the bench
in 2026-27, despite the continued uncertainty about his contract status.
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