Cooper named Canada coach at 2022 Olympics

Jon Cooper was named coach of the Canada men's ice hockey team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics on Monday.

Cooper is entering his 10th season as Tampa Bay Lightning coach and guided them to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021. The Lightning are 384-197-53 and have reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs seven times during Cooper's tenure. The Lightning won the Presidents' Trophy given to the best NHL team in the regular season with 128 points and an NHL record-tying 62 wins in 2018-19.
Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, Vegas Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer and New York Islanders coach Barry Trotz were named assistants.
"First of all, this is humbling and a privilege to be a part of this," Cooper said. "…My son said to me, 'God Dad, you have an all-star team for a coaching staff' and I truly believe that in Bruce and Peter and Barry. It's so exciting just to be part of this.
"This process of being part of Team Canada and the rich history that's been before myself and what's going to continue and to be a part of that with this management group and coaching staff, I couldn't be more excited to really take in this journey. It should be a fun time."
Tampa Bay finished third in the eight-team Discover Central Division last season (36-17-3). It defeated the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Islanders and Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup.
Cooper was an assistant for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey 2016 under Todd McLellan and coached Canada to a second-place finish at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, losing the title game 2-1 to Sweden in a shootout.
"To be a part of this, as a young kid in Canada growing up and watching hockey and having your dreams of whether it's to play in the NHL and win the Stanley Cup or be a part of the Olympics, obviously I didn't get to do that as a player, but to be a part of that as a coach is, it's so exciting," Cooper said.

NHL participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics has not been finalized.
There is a pause in the NHL schedule from Feb. 7-22 if the League reaches an agreement with the NHL Players' Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation for NHL players to participate in the upcoming Olympics. Talks continue on outstanding issues, including securing appropriate COVID-19 insurance.
"Jon's resume obviously speaks for itself in the NHL; two-time Stanley Cup champion, international experience," Doug Armstrong, GM of Canada's men's ice hockey team for the 2022 Olympics, said. "… I think the process that we went through to narrow this group down, getting Jon as our leader and then working with him to secure a staff makes us feel very good about how we're moving forward."
The NHL and NHLPA retain the authority to decide not to participate in the Olympics should COVID-19 conditions worsen or otherwise pose a threat to the health and safety of the players, or for any other reason that may warrant such a decision. If NHL players don't participate, the League will release a revised schedule that, to the greatest extent possible, will adopt the dates and games from the schedule announced July 22.
"There's been number of obstacles to hurdle," said Tom Renney, chief executive officer of Hockey Canada. "If you remember back to 2018 (Pyeongchang Olympics), we had sort of parallel plans whereby Hockey Canada put together a team that participated only when the National Hockey League couldn't.
"As I mentioned earlier, our objective is to make sure that we are ready with the National Hockey League to participate in the Winter Olympics and, with that being said, look very much forward to putting this team together working with Doug and the staff as we do so."
NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report