Jon Cooper

A day after saying he would not re-sign with Tampa Bay, Nikita Kucherov was in the lineup and had a multipoint game at Nashville. Coach Jon Cooper says, "Kuch is going to play like the superstar he is."

Tampa Bay, which opens the season Thursday at the New York Rangers, have won consistently under Jon Cooper, but another strong regular season will mean little without making a deep playoff run.

Cooper was caught off-guard when he was presented with the trophy during a ceremony at Tampa General Hospital to open a pediatric cancer lounge was fundred by his charity.

Jon Cooper, who is from British Colombia, will lead Team Canada for the 2026 Olympics in Milan and the Four Nations Face-Off in February, a prep tournament of sorts for the Olympics.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have named Jon Cooper as the eighth head coach in team history, picking a man familiar to many of the players who will suit up for…