The Lightning named Jon Cooper the eighth head coach in franchise history today, vice president and GM Steve Yzerman announced.

Cooper joins the Lightning after having spent the previous three seasons behind the bench of Tampa Bay’s top affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals from 2010-12 and this season with the Syracuse Crunch, compiling a 133-62-26 (.661) record in 221 AHL games. Cooper will coach his first game for the Lightning on Friday night versus the Devils.

Effective immediately, Syracuse assistant Rob Zettler takes over as the head coach of the Crunch while Martin Raymond will join Zettler as an assistant.  Dan Lacroix and Steve Thomas will remain behind the bench for tomorrow night’s game against the Sabres, then continuing as Cooper’s assistants with the Lightning.

“We are very pleased to introduce Jon as our head coach today,” Yzerman said. “He has had success at every level he has coached and is extremely familiar with our organization, as well as our players.  He has a tremendous record at all levels and we feel he is ready to make the move to the NHL.”