Jon Cooper steps away from the Tampa Bay Lightning due to family tragedy

Over the past few months, Jon Cooper has been a very busy coach, as he is not only focused on helping the Tampa Bay Lightning get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but he led a heavily favoured Team Canada to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano Cortina.

While the team came up short in the Gold Medal Game, he was expected to return along with Jake Guentzel for their first game following the break against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, a new report has now revealed that Cooper will not be behind the bench against the Maple Leafs, as he is dealing with the sudden and tragic passing of his father.

This was not expected by the Cooper family, and unsurprisingly, given how much he means to the Lightning, they want to give him all the time he needs to properly grieve this tragic loss, with no timetable on his return to coaching given by the organization.

In Tampa Bay, Cooper has built a very good staff with plenty of trust in his assistant coaches, and given all of the talent on the ice, they'll no doubt find a way to manage without Cooper.

Only time will tell when Cooper returns, but given the nature of his tragedy, he's got the full support of the players, the organization and the fans, so we hope that he takes all the time he needs given the tragic situation.

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