FILE – In this Feb. 11, 2020, file photo, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper yells instructions during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh. When Todd Reirden and Jon Cooper spent four months looking over video of the teams they coached this season, they saw almost polar opposites. Reirden's Washington Capitals started hot before their defensive game slipped. Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning took a while to warm up, then won 14 of 21 games before the NHL season was halted in mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Jon Cooper laughed off the question and diverted the conversation to Park City’s ski slopes.
The Tampa Bay Lightning head coach was holding court for his morning media availability at Delta Center when his team was in town to face Utah Hockey Club in March. He was asked if Salt Lake City could be his next signing location.
“Landed, got up and went right to Park City. Checked out the ski hills and Main Street. Didn’t want to leave but had to leave because I had to come back and watch the Jazz,” Cooper said. “Went to the Jazz game, had a blast. They treated us unbelievable.”
Since Ryan Smith and his Smith Entertainment Group acquired the Arizona Coyotes’ assets last April and created Utah Hockey Club, Cooper’s name has been thrown around. The two had a relationship even before Smith got his hand in the NHL — they were golf buddies, to be exact — and remain in close contact.
Up until now, it was just good fun to imagine a future where Cooper, arguably the best coach in the NHL (or hockey, for that matter), would stand behind the bench in Salt Lake City.
Offseason rumors, though, suggest it could one day be a reality.
Larry Brooks, who has been writing about the New York Rangers for the New York Post since the mid-1970s and is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, posted a nugget about Cooper’s tie to Utah on X on Wednesday.
“A fair amount of chatter about Jon Cooper, who signed a one-year extension a year ago to take him through 25-26. One year seems odd,” Brooks wrote. “Plugged-in individual has told me not to be surprised if he leaves TB to take over the operation in Utah, owned by close friend Ryan [Smith].”
The message came one day after Greg Wyshynski of ESPN discussed the prospect on the Daily Faceoff’s “The Sheet” podcast.
The Lightning were just ousted from the 2025 playoffs after the Florida Panthers beat them 4-1 in their opening-round series. It marked the third consecutive season Tampa has lost in the first round. That follows the Lightning’s three consecutive Stanley Cup final appearances during which they won the title twice. It seems the team may be at a turning point, and so, Wyshynski thought about Cooper’s future.
Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper watches during the second period of Game 2 of the team's NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, April 20, 2023, in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
“Mutual parting of the ways, we’ve taken this as far as we can take it. Takes a year off, is on television, he’s hanging out by the pool having smokes. And then the Utah Hockey Club in its next year, their sophomore season … they’re not doing as well as they probably should but they have a good, promising young team,” Wyshynski said, posing his hypothetical.
“Golfing buddy Ryan Smith calls up golfing buddy Jon Cooper and says, ‘Hey buddy, fancy a trip to the mountains?’ And Jon Cooper becomes the head coach of the Utah Hockey Club, not next season but the season after that. I could see that scenario playing out.”
Could a partnership of Smith and Cooper really happen? If so, is it the right choice? Let‘s analyze the rumor.
Current Utah head coach André Tourigny signed a three-year extension in August 2023, which takes him through the end of the 2026-27 season.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club head coach Andre Tourigny calls out during the game against the Detroit Red Wings at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 24, 2025.
Tourigny was brought in by the Arizona Coyotes to be the leader who would get them through the rebuilding process. And, with an 89-point season (the most recorded since the 2013-14 campaign in Arizona), Tourigny has helped the group get closer to being a contender. He has developed young stars like Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther, while giving important roles to veterans like Kevin Stenlund and Ian Cole.
The Quebec native has won at nearly every level: Tourigny was the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League coach of the year in 2005-06, the Ontario Hockey League coach of the year in 2018-19 and 2019-20 as well as the Canadian Hockey League coach of the year in 2019-20. At the international level, Tourigny led Team Canada to a World Juniors gold in 2019-20 and a World Championship gold in 2022-23.
A Stanley Cup, though? That is not on the resume. Cooper has two. And while that should not be the determining factor of bringing in a new coach, the breadth of experience Cooper has — and knowing what it takes for glory in the NHL — is hard to compete with.
The 57-year-old has been the head coach of the Lightning for 12 seasons, which is currently the longest tenure in the NHL. He signed a one-year contract extension to keep him in that position through the 2025-26 season.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club defenseman Mikhail Sergachev handles the puck versus the Seattle Kraken at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
Apart from the two Cups with Tampa (in 2020 and 2021), Cooper was the assistant coach for Canada in the World Cup of Hockey in 2016-17 and the head coach for Canada in the World Championship that same year. Cooper was also the head coach for Canada in this year’s 4-Nation’s Faceoff tournament and will be at the helm for his country at the 2026 Milan Olympics.
Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev spent seven of his first eight NHL seasons in Tampa under Cooper, too. The coach helped form Sergachev into the (tremendous) player who helped change the trajectory of the Club this season.
Beyond the hockey accolades, Cooper has helped mentor Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy. Smith put the two in contact.
“I like [Cooper’s] detail in leadership. So any time you can get coaches to communicate, it‘s pretty awesome,” Smith said in a 2024 article in The Athletic. “They text each other, and it‘s a cool mentorship.”
It has been helpful for Hardy to have a sounding board outside of the basketball world, especially as the second-youngest coach in the NBA.
“Yeah, I’ve developed a really good relationship with Coop. He’s been very helpful for me navigating the first two and a half years of this position. He’s given me more big picture advice as it relates to managing a staff, or managing the group as a whole, not just the locker room,” Hardy said in March.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Will Hardy as the Utah Jazz host the Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA basketball in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 11, 2025.
“But the relationships that I have been lucky to build with coaches that are not in basketball have probably been the most impactful because there’s nothing hidden. We’re not competing. I’ll never coach a game against Jon Cooper. I’ll never coach a game against Dan Quinn, like that‘s just not gonna happen. So there’s never anything that‘s guarded going either way.”
If Cooper does land on the open market after next season — or, while unlikely, he parts ways with Tampa this summer — the entire league will be interested. He will field calls from everyone. Does Smith have what it takes to secure someone with that prestige in the NHL?
Financially, the answer is probably yes.
Mike Sullivan, who spent 10 years with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was named the new head coach of the Rangers on Friday. He, previously, was the highest-paid head coach in the league, raking in $5.5 million per year. Ahead of his deal in New York, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported “It is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history.” So, one could guess it will be in the $6 million range.
Cooper is currently making $5.3 million in Tampa. Smith would likely have to go above that, and it sounds like he can.
“Ryan is definitely, and the ownership group, is capable of making sure that we can pretty much get anything done in the league that we need to get done,” Utah general manager Bill Armstrong said at Utah’s end-of-season interviews.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club General Manager Bill Armstrong answers questions during media day at the Delta Center, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024.
And, looking at the past, Smith likes to bring in his own people. After buying the Jazz in December 2020, Smith gave it a season and then decided to move on from Dennis Lindsey as the president of basketball operations. Smith brought in Danny Ainge as the team’s CEO and made general manager Justin Zanik the team’s primary decision-maker.
Smith will not be able to wait out Tourigny’s contract if Cooper becomes available. He will have to act quickly.
It could be a no-brainer.
And Cooper could be the piece that pushes Utah over the edge.
There will be obstacles, of course.
“Well … the talk should be whatever comes from Julien and I or ownership,” Cooper said this week. “Tampa has been home for my kids, it’s all they really remember. For me, it’s hard to see myself anywhere else.”
Tampa general manager Julien BriseBois had no interest in picturing Cooper elsewhere and said the coach will return next season.
“He’s an outstanding coach,” BriseBois said. “He’s the best coach for this job. I really enjoy working with him. I am appreciative and grateful for our partnership and I expect it to go on for many years to come.”
And during his last trip to Utah, Cooper wasn’t interested in a ski day.
“Most of the staff did [ski], I did not,” Cooper said at the time. “I grew up in the west, I grew up on the slopes all the time. Now I’m just used to the sun. I’m a sun snob now. And it just looked like a lot of effort to get into all that gear.”
Still, he might like to know that Salt Lake City averaged more than 220 days of sunshine per year — not all that far behind the 240 or so he sees in Tampa.
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