GDT: 10/6/17 - 7:30PM EDT - Florida vs Tampa Bay

[These Are The Days]

Wait wait wait.... Girardi IS with Hedman tonight?

.....

 

[Leonardo87]

 

[JoVel]

Might as well give that Mystery Man nickname from Volkov to Dotchin. What the hell did he do?

 

[The Macho King]

Might as well give that Mystery Man nickname from Volkov to Dotchin. What the hell did he do?

I honestly would rather not know. As it stands, I can root for him on the ice, but if it's something... bad? Man that'd be tough.

 

[These Are The Days]

I'm done defending this guy. Without telling my life story I know about a hard break better than anyone and I felt Coop had a hard break last year. So I defend the guy and because I was genuinely concerned with the leadership within the locker room and our tendency to be compacent. And now I look like a complete idiot for doing it. And you know what? It's the internet. Who cares if I look like an idiot? I care that our best defenseman is being paired with our worst.

Oh I'm sure Dotchin isn't ready. He didn't play but one preseason game. But it's nonsense that Girardi needs to be the repercussion here.

 

[The Macho King]

I'm done defending this guy. Without telling my life story I know about a hard break better than anyone and I felt Coop had a hard break last year. So I defend the guy and because I was genuinely concerned with the leadership within the locker room and our tendency to be compacent. And now I look like a complete idiot for doing it. And you know what? It's the internet. Who cares if I look like an idiot? I care that our best defenseman is being paired with our worst.

Oh I'm sure Dotchin isn't ready. He didn't play but one preseason game. But it's nonsense that Girardi needs to be the repercussion here.

Welcome to the dark side brother.

 

[JoVel]

I honestly would rather not know. As it stands, I can root for him on the ice, but if it's something... bad? Man that'd be tough.

Well whatever it was it must've been more than a missed team meeting or something like that. I believe we sat Filppula for one game last year for that?

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Hedman just got RyanMcDonagh-ed

 

[Flat Ronnie]

I say keep Stamkos-Kucherov together. Dare teams to try to stop them and push everyone else on the team to step up.

The second line is gonna be shuffled within period 1, watch.

Don't care about Hedman/Girardi pairing. It's game 1, they're just working it out.

Since Stamkos and Kuch are on two different PP units, the story on special teams is going to be if Serg can be competent on the point on Stammers unit.

Not worried about Vasi.

Koekkoek is a dissapointment.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Girardi with Hedman?

Bolts fans reaction...

You just knew it was going to happen so why not in the season opener. Jesus christ.

Inb4 Kunitz is on the first line.

 

[JoVel]

You just knew it was going to happen so why not in the season opener. Jesus christ.

Inb4 Kunitz is on the first line.

"Over the summer the fans probably forgot how idiotic moves I can make sometimes, so let's make it clear from day one"

 

[Brie]

So excited about getting the season started, feels like it’s been forever.
And *sigh* when it comes to Hedman – Girardi, and of course Sustr is playing, need to have him in the lineup for some reason no one but Cooper understands,
Anyway, amazing GDT as always.

 

[Leonardo87]

You just knew it was going to happen so why not in the season opener. Jesus christ.

Inb4 Kunitz is on the first line.

We all know lines are going to change throughout the course of a season, same as the D pairings. So really can't put too much stock into this.

 

[FinnLightning26]

"Over the summer the fans probably forgot how idiotic moves I can make sometimes, so let's make it clear from day one"

He did let Sergachev on the team so he has to compensate by overplaying every single veteran there is on the team.

 

[FinnLightning26]

We all know lines are going to change throughout the course of a season, same as the D pairings. So really can't put too much stock into this.

The only way the Girardi signing isn't a bad one was if they would limit his minutes and what does Cooper do? I pray to Yzergod he's off that pairing in a hurry.

 

[TampaJay]

The only way the Girardi signing isn't a bad one was if they would limit his minutes and what does Cooper do? I pray to Yzergod he's off that pairing in a hurry.

You’re praying to the guy who signed him and thought he was worth $3 mil for two years? That is not what you pay someone you think is a third pair guy, that’s top 4 money. How come the guy who signed him doesn’t get any blame?

 

[FinnLightning26]

You’re praying to the guy who signed him and thought he was worth $3 mil for two years? That is not what you pay someone you think is a third pair guy, that’s top 4 money. How come the guy who signed him doesn’t get any blame?

I said Yzergod for the memes but yeah, I hated that signing since day 1 and of course Yzerman isn't blameless in this situation. What we could do is soften the blow and put him on the third pair but the coach thinks otherwise.

 

[Sky04]

Killorn-Johnson-Callahan seems like a poor man's version of the Whack-A-Mole line. But I guess, seeing as how they'll be pretty sheltered, they could work out.

I think Point would make more sense between those two though. Better vision than Johnson, playing with two guys who need a creative linemate.

Ultimately I think we're gonna separate Stamkos and Kucherov. If we can find a suitable playmaker for Stamkos (Point?), that would make us deadly at ES.

They aren't both going to score 40 goals if they're on the same line.

 

[ThunderAlleyNomad]

Great GDT, as usual!

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

I guess we see what's what with respect to Girardi finally.

 

[The Underboss]

Nice GDT!

Both Lightning & Isles winning tonight would be a great start to my season!!

 

[These Are The Days]

Welcome to the dark side brother.

It doesn't take long for me to join. Believe me. I wanted Boucher gone by his 2nd season because I realized the entire NHL figured us out and he was not going to change. Like I said I had my reasons for defending Cooper. But Dan freaking Girardi is not okay. I won't call for Cooper's head tonight but he just went on my shit list after an entire off-season in my good graces after we pulled out of the tailspin and almost made the playoffs with an AHL roster. Doing that screams "roster issue"/"motivation and complacency issue" instead of "coaching issue" and because of that I wanted to give the guy a break. Doing that on top of 2 deep playoff runs deserves some slack. But there's no slack for giving top minutes to a guy who was just bought out because he was so downright horrible.

I hope to be proven wrong tonight because losing to the Panthers for the 4th time in 2 or 3 weeks is unacceptable whether it was preseaosn or not.

 

[Leonardo87]

It doesn't take long for me to join. Believe me. I wanted Boucher gone by his 2nd season because I realized the entire NHL figured us out and he was not going to change. Like I said I had my reasons for defending Cooper. But Dan freaking Girardi is not okay. I won't call for Cooper's head tonight but he just went on my **** list after an entire off-season in my good graces after we pulled out of the tailspin and almost made the playoffs with an AHL roster. Doing that screams "roster issue"/"motivation and complacency issue" instead of "coaching issue" and because of that I wanted to give the guy a break. Doing that on top of 2 deep playoff runs deserves some slack. But there's no slack for giving top minutes to a guy who was just bought out because he was so downright horrible.

I hope to be proven wrong tonight because losing to the Panthers for the 4th time in 2 or 3 weeks is unacceptable whether it was preseaosn or not.

 

[Hinterland]

Why is everybody complaining? Can't have too many good defenders. Girardi is a proven vet who had one poor season because of health issues. If he's healthy then why wouldn't you give him every chance to succeed? If he plays poorly, he'll get demoted or even scratched in a hurry. They'll evaluate the team after every game or even period. No reason to be upset.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

I'm not going to get upset at the lineup. It's only the first game. We've got 81 more after tonight. I do want to see Dotchin and Koekkoek, but let's see how things shake out this week. As for Girardi, I'm actually interested to see how he does since I wasn't able to catch any of his preseason games.