Five questions with Lightning coach Jon Cooper

NHL.com’s Q&A feature called “Five Questions With …” runs every Tuesday. We talk to key figures in the game and ask them questions to gain insight into their lives, careers and the latest news.

The latest edition features Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper:

Maybe it was wishful thinking, listening to his heart, crossing his fingers and hoping, but Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper insists he never had a doubt that captain Steven Stamkos would re-sign this summer despite speculation he would hit the free agent market and say goodbye to Tampa Bay.

“In my heart there wasn’t one ounce of me that thought anybody was leaving,” Cooper said Monday. “When we have this group, and as close as we are, I never leapt into the thought that we were losing some guys. Deep down inside, I never had a doubt.”

Stamkos on June 29 signed an eight-year, $68 million contract to stay with the Lightning, two days before he would have become a free agent.

Then, on July 1, Tampa Bay re-signed defenseman Victor Hedman to an eight-year contract extension worth $63 million, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to a three-year extension worth $10.5 million. Forward Alex Killorn signed a seven-year, $31 million contract on July 12, and center Vladislav Namestnikov signed a two-year, $3.9 million contract on July 27. Only restricted free agent forward Nikita Kucherov remains unsigned.

“Everybody believes in what we’re doing here, how [chairman] Jeff Vinik has structured our organization, how [general manager] Steve Yzerman has handled the hockey operations side of our organization,” Cooper said. “It’s a trickle-down effect. I know we haven’t reached our ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup, but I think that they have created an environment here that if you want to go somewhere to win the Stanley Cup, we think we’ve got as good a chance as anybody, and this is the place to do it.”

Cooper spoke more about re-signing Stamkos; the future of forward Jonathan Drouin, who found himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons at times last season; and his role as an assistant coach for Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey 2016.

Here are Five Questions with … Jon Cooper:

Understanding that you wished and hoped and believed everybody would return, I have to wonder about your certainty with Stamkos. You went through all of last season with his saga. He could have re-signed at any time, but it goes until late June. He entertained other teams along the way, thinking about moving on before coming to his decision to re-sign. There was rampant speculation. Why were you so certain he’d return, because I don’t think Yzerman even was that certain?

“I truly believe that players have earned their right to be unrestricted free agents. Steven Stamkos earned his right to offer himself up and make himself available to all 30 teams. I just truly believe that in his heart he never wanted to leave. In saying that, he earned the right to be able to see what else was out there, but whether he signed last July 1 or this July 1, he still re-signed and we never went a day without Steven Stamkos. In a harmonious world would all be great if he signed last year? Sure, but he earned his right to see what was out there. Just because he didn’t sign back right away doesn’t mean he didn’t want to be here, and in the end it all played out that he really wanted to be here. You can’t …

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