Over at The Athletic, Pierre LeBrun is reporting that Tampa Bay Lightning head coach, Jon Cooper, is the leading candidate to coach Team Canada at the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off as well as the 2026 Olympics in Milan. According to LeBrun, an announcement as to the head coaching spot is expected following the Stanley Cup Final.
If he was named to the job, it would be the second time Coach Cooper has represented Team Canada as he was the head coach of the 2017 team at the IIHF World Championships in Germany and France. He led Brayden Point and Alex Killorn to a silver medal, losing in the final to Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman of Team Sweden. The two-time Stanley Cup winning coach also directed the short-lived, but exciting Team North America made up of young players from different countries at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Coach Cooper was expected to make his Olympic coaching debut at the 2021 games in Beijing, but once the NHL bailed due to COVID concerns, the job was given to Claude Julien.
LeBrun did mention that it was a little unusual for Team Canada to announce the same coach for both events as they have different general managers with Don Sweeny taking the reins for the Four Nations tournament and Doug Armstrong serving in that capacity for the Olympics a year later. However, with Coach Cooper’s resume, it’s hard to think of a better fit and it would give the teams, which should be composed of pretty much the same players, some sense of continuity in play. While the GM’s will have the final say over the roster, expect Coach Cooper to have a little bit of influence as well (c’mon Stamkos to the Olympics!)
The duties won’t affect his situation with the Lightning as any training camps are likely to take place during breaks in the NHL schedule. The league will be on break for both tournaments so his march to 1,000 games coached should continue unabated (he’s currently at 879). He would be the first Lightning head coach to lead a country at the Olympics (John Tortorella was an assistant coach for Team USA in 2010).
Congratulations to Coop!
