These are the NHL’s Top 10 Best Head Coaches Right Now (2026-27)

Sharpshooting goal scorers and top playmakers usually get most of the glory when it comes to playing NHL hockey, but it takes a full team that can work together in any situation to reach the top of the standings.

Making that happen rests on the shoulders of a team’s coaches, and there’s a few who stand a notch or two above others in the elite and exclusive club of NHL head coaches. Here’s our ranking of the 10 best head coaches in the NHL during the 2026-27 season.

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Top 10 NHL Head Coaches in 2026-27

Here are the 10 best current coaches in the NHL. These coaches were selected for their recent success, including league titles and awards like the Jack Adams Coach of the Year award, plus their overall in-season win/loss records and impact on their teams since taking over.

Stats up to date as of Nov 2, 2026. Format is wins-losses-overtime losses (win rate).

1. Rod Brind’Amour – Carolina Hurricanes

Regular season record: 390-184-58 (62%)

Playoffs record: 108-63-45 (58%)

As a player and now a coach for the Carolina Hurricanes, Rod Brind’Amour has had a decisive hand in both of the franchises’ Stanley Cup wins. He led the team to its first-ever NHL title from the ice in 2006 as the team’s captain, then began to turn the struggling team around almost from the moment he stepped behind the bench as head coach in 2018. That eight-year effort culminated in the Canes’ second Stanley Cup in June.

Carolina’s personnel may have changed frequently during Brind’Amour’s tenure, but his fast-paced, possession-focused system with its aggressive forecheck and man coverage has become firmly entrenched, helping the Canes make the postseason in every season since he took over. That type of system generates a consistent and repeatable formula for winning games, but it requires careful focus and total commitment from his players. Brind’Amour has been able to secure that commitment no matter what form his locker room has taken over the years.

His leadership and system have also created a fertile developing ground for the many young players who have joined the team, including current team standouts like Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Jackson Blake, Mark Jankowski and Logan Stankoven.

Brind’Amour was awarded the Jack Adams Coach of the Year award just three seasons into his tenure as head coach, but surmounting the Eastern Conference Final hump and bringing the Stanley Cup back to Raleigh is his crowning achievement so far. The Canes are off to a red-hot start this season, and back-to-back Cups may be in the cards.

2. Jon Cooper – Tampa Bay Lightning

Regular season record: 630-335-91 (60%)

Playoffs record: 91-71-0 (56%)

Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes might have a good shot at pulling off consecutive Stanley Cup Final wins this season, but number two on this list has been there and done that. Jon Cooper led the Tampa Bay Lighting to two straight championship and came back the next season to take a third crack at the Stanley Cup Final, though they lost to the Colorado Avalanche that year.

If the Canes are stacked deep with dynamic, young players, Coopers’ Bolts have relied on an experienced core of veteran superstars like Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point, with the legendary Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes, over the years.

Much of Cooper’s success has come from his exceptional ability to adapt: He’s known for being able to quickly assess a particular game state, or even an entire playoff series, and switch things up on the fly. He’s more than willing to change matchups, redistribute responsibilities and accept a tighter game when necessary, and he’s built the credibility behind the bench to convince his team to follow his lead.

In addition to his two Stanley Cups within the last decade, he landed the 2026 Jack Adams Award for best coach. He’d be on top of this list but for the Bolts’ recent playoff regression, marked by multiple first-round eliminations in recent seasons.

3. Paul Maurice – Florida Panthers

Regular season record: 964-809-154 (48%, 99 ties)

Playoffs record: 86-74 (54%_=)

Another three-in-a-row Stanley Cup Final coach in the last few years, Paul Maurice’s name has been etched on the Stanley Cup in two of the last three seasons. A lot of that success has to do with Maurice’s effectiveness in shaping one of the league’s most infamously physical and aggressive teams into a finely tuned winning machine.

Like the Hurricanes, Florida’s system under Maurice also relies on relentless pressure and puck control, with a layered approach that has their forwards often recovering above the puck when they are no longer directly contesting it, giving their defensemen the extra support they need to challenge along the boards and keep attacks alive. When an opponent escapes with the puck, another Panther is usually right there to intervene. That doggedness, combined with their hard-hitting style, makes the Cats a nightmare for any team to go up against.

Getting several lines to execute that approach requires considerable coaching talent and commitment, but Maurice has been at it for a long, long time and deserves to be among the pantheon of best NHL coaches in 2026.

4. Jared Bednar – Colorado Avalanche

Regular season record: 453-267-76 (57%)

Playoffs record: 60-40-1 (59%)

The Av’s have been regulars at the top of the NHL standings for some time now, with a Stanley Cup to their name within the last five seasons. A lot of that is expected when you have one of the most talent-laden rosters in the league featuring superstars like Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar at your disposal, but Jared Bednar’s leadership from the bench has been an equally critical factor.

Bednar’s approach focuses on possession like the Hurricanes and Panthers, but rather than trying to smother his opponents into submission and generate as many shots as possible, he’s known for his analytics-driven mindset and focus on fully capitalizing on the moments when that possession matters most. He’s also a master of getting full utilization out of all five skaters on the ice at any given time, allowing them room to be innovative and creative while making sure it all fits well within the structure of the play.

5. Martin St. Louis – Montreal Canadiens

Regular season record: 172-158-49 (52%)

Playoffs record: 10-14 (42%)

The Habs were knocking on the door of the Stanley Cup Final last spring, and Martin St. Louis’s tenure as head coach has been a big part of the steady march of winning seasons that put them in that position.

Like Bednar, St. Louis excels at guiding players to recognize opportunities and giving them the confidence to act on them under a concept-based system. His approach places considerable responsibility on the player: Understand the team’s principles, read the situation and make a good decision.

Montreal’s conference-final appearance gave St. Louis’s developmental work competitive validation, and his Canadiens are off to a hot start in 2026-27, too.

6. Lindy Ruff – Buffalo Sabres

Regular season record: 957-745-172 (49%, 78 Ties)

Playoffs record: 78-67 (53%)

Buffalo became one of the league’s best surprise contender stories last season when the franchise not only snapped their 15-season playoff drought but nearly made the Eastern Conference Final in a tense series against the St. Louis’ Canadiens. What was no surprise is that it came after the return of the team’s long-time head coach, Lindy Ruff.

Ruff got his start with Buffalo way back in 1997, spending nearly two decades behind their bench until he left for stints with Dallas and New Jersey. Ruff returned to Buffalo in 2024-25 and took just one season of re-acclimation to put up a 67% win-loss record and launch the Sabres’ first playoff run in a decade and a half.

Ruff’s recovery effort carried the Sabres to the top of the Atlantic Division, Now Buffalo is once again putting up winning numbers as they look for another crack at the Cup that Ruff has been chasing for nearly 30 years.

7. Marco Sturm – Boston Bruins

Regular season record: 54-31-11 (62%)

Playoffs record: 2-4 (33%)

Boston was another team that most expected to see another lengthy rebuild from after the exodus of most of its more recognizable players, including the legendary Brad Marchand, but Marco Sturm’s arrival behind the bench swiftly shut any notion of that down: Boston went 45–27–10, reached 100 points and returned to the playoffs in his first season.

His foundation is clear communication. Sturm arrived with a reputation for explaining expectations directly and effectively developing younger players, and he put those skills to quick use in Boston.

Boston’s 9–3–1 start strengthened the argument that Sturm’s first season has established a sustainable foundation, and there’s a good chance he could move up this list before the season’s done.

8. John Hynes – Minnesota Wild

Regular season record: 419-336-90 (45%)

Playoffs record: 11-25 (30%)

The Wild have been a force of nature over the last few years. Much of that can be credited to their high-powered roster featuring stars like Quinn Hughes, Kirill Kaprizov and Jesper Wallstedt, but head coach John Hynes factors in just as significantly.

Hynes arrived in Minnesota after stints with the New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators, and he’s the mind behind the Wilds’ uncanny ability to layer their lines in ways that allow their top offensive and defensive talent to overlap at exactly the right moments, while ensuring that the team’s top players’ minutes aren’t too concentrated and don’t begin to create gaps elsewhere, all while navigating a relatively high rate of injuries.

The Wild improved in each of Hynes’ first three seasons and finished 2025–26 at 46–24–12, making Minnesota a perennial and deep postseason threat in the West.

9. Travis Green – Ottawa Senators

Regular season record: 239-222-54 (45%)

Playoffs record: 12-15 (44%)

The Ottawa Senators were another of the league’s more interesting teams over the last two seasons, making the playoffs in two consecutive years after hanging out near the bottom of the NHL standings for the better part of the previous decade. Travis Green appears to have been one of the driving factors in that recent success.

Since arriving in Ottawa, Green has emphasized honest conversations, individualized communication and being able to recognize when a group needs encouragement rather than correction.

That balance matters with skilled players, who must accept defensive responsibilities without becoming hesitant offensively. Maintaining that identity through injuries and roster, coupled with Green’s willingness to revise his systems and redistribute coaching duties shows that he’s becoming increasingly experienced and adaptive since his days with the Canucks and Devils, and Ottawa is expected to remain a contender.

10. Spencer Carbery – Washington Capitals

Regular season record: 142-88-29 (55%)

Playoffs record: 5-9 (36%)

Spencer Carbery’s greatness with the Caps lies in his ability to make connections and foster comradery between a roster of players than spans generations, with a core of young, dynamic players and its legendary veteran group, including Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. He’s proven highly capable of taking those established veterans and the younger players, understand their different stages of development and get them clicking without losing a shared team standard and winning mentality.

The Capitals have been a bit inconsistent lately, and last season’s playoff miss keeps him a bit further down this ranking, but he’s proven his potential behind the bench time and again, and Washington remains a persistent threat in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Honorable Mentions

Here are a few other top-tier head coaches in the NHL right now.

• Ryan Warsofsky, San Jose Sharks
• Joel Quenneville, Anaheim Ducks
• Dan Muse, Pittsburgh Penguins

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