By Pierre LeBrun (The Athletic)

The next Jon Cooper. That’s who NHL clubs dream of promoting or hiring from the outside.

It was already nine years ago — nine years! — that Cooper was promoted from Tampa’s AHL affiliate to Lightning head coach in March 2013.

And a lot of people said, “Who is this guy?”

Now he’s considered the best coach in the NHL with two Stanley Cup rings under his belt and a whole lot of consistent winning with a modern approach.

That’s the coach every organization hopes to find.

On Wednesday, I took a whirl around the veteran free-agent head coaches’ market — a rather deep one this offseason, led by Barry Trotz and Pete DeBoer.

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