The Tampa Bay Lightning are an American professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). Often referred to as the Bolts, the team joined the NHL in 1992 as an expansion team, and have won the Stanley Cup championship in 2004, 2020 and 2021. Having first played in the Expo Hall, and later in the ThunderDome (now known as Tropicana Field), the Lightning have played their home games at the Ice Palace, currently titled Benchmark International Arena, since 1996. The Lightning are owned by Jeffrey Vinik, Julien BriseBois is their general manager, and Victor Hedman is the team captain.
There have been nine head coaches for the Lightning franchise. The team's first head coach was Terry Crisp, who coached for five seasons. John Tortorella, the only American to head coach the team, was the first Lightning coach to have won the Prince of Wales Trophy, the Stanley Cup, and to have been awarded the Jack Adams Award, all of which happened in the 2003–04 season. Rick Paterson, Steve Ludzik and Jon Cooper are the only ones who have spent their entire NHL head coaching careers with the Lightning.
Jon Cooper is the team's current head coach, having been named to the position on March 25, 2013. Cooper is the only head coach of the Lightning to win the Prince of Wales Trophy four times. Under Cooper, the franchise won its second Stanley Cup championship in 2020 and third championship in 2021. Cooper is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular season wins (572), playoff games coached (155), and the most playoff-games won (888).
Key #Number of coachesGCGames coachedWWins = 2 pointsLLosses = 0 pointsTTies = 1 pointOTOvertime/shootout losses = 1 pointPTSPointsWin%Winning percentage* Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Lightning
Coaches
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2025–26 NHL season. + Head coaches of the Tampa Bay Lightning # Name Term Regular season Playoffs Achievements ReferenceGCWLT/OTPTSPTS%GCWLWin% 1 Terry Crisp 1992–199839114220445329.421624.333 2Rick Paterson*1998 60600.000———— 3 Jacques Demers 1998–199914734961785.289———— 4 Steve Ludzik* 1999–200112131672385.351———— 5 John Tortorella 2001–200853523922274552.516452421.533Stanley Cup championship: 2004Jack Adams Award winner: 2003–04Prince of Wales Trophy winner: 2004 6 Barry Melrose 20081657414.438———— 7 Rick Tocchet 2008–2010148536926132.446———— 8Guy Boucher 2010–2013196977920214.54618117.611 9 Jon Cooper* 2013–present 1043 622 322 89 1,333 162 91 71 NHL All-Star Game: 2018, 2019Jack Adams Award winner: 2025–26Presidents' Trophy winner: 2018–19Stanley Cup championship: 2020, 2021Prince of Wales Trophy winner: 2015, 2020, 2021, 2022
Notes A running total of the number of coaches of the Lightning. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once. Before the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a penalty shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season.
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