GDT: 9/28/17 - 6:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Florida [Preseason Game 6]

[Brie]

I watched last night’s game and I’m a bit concerned, especially when you get tweets like these and wonder what intensity he was talking about? I do agree that they have things to "clean up".

 

[DFC]

I watched last night’s game and I’m a bit concerned, especially when you get tweets like these and wonder what intensity he was talking about? I do agree that they have things to "clean up".

I think we're at a point where we can safely say the team gets media talking points from someone above them. It's hard to say what they're really feeling.

 

[Sky04]

I think we're at a point where we can safely say the team gets media talking points from someone above them. It's hard to say what they're really feeling.

Why do you say that? I genially believe they mean it but just can't execute because they're stuck in bad habits.

We know they're more talented than they show, they know it too. Problem is they're so used to making it look so effortless before they started playing with less effort, when scoring goals becomes easy you stop working hard for it. It's funny we start routing for our AHL guys who are less talented than the regulars but come in full throttle, it's why Drouin was exciting to watch - because he changed the tempo of the game. Can you imagine if it was Killorn going full on forecheck like Gourde does? We've had a team composition that should be playing full throttle every game with the amount of speed on this team for the past 3 years but instead we play slower than the Islanders on a lot of nights.

 

[DFC]

Why do you say that? I genially believe they mean it but just can't execute because they're stuck in bad habits.

We know they're more talented than they show, they know it too. Problem is they're so used to making it look so effortless before they started playing with less effort, when scoring goals becomes easy you stop working hard for it. It's funny we start routing for our AHL guys who are less talented than the regulars but come in full throttle, it's why Drouin was exciting to watch - because he changed the tempo of the game. Can you imagine if it was Killorn going full on forecheck like Gourde does? We've had a team composition that should be playing full throttle every game with the amount of speed on this team for the past 3 years but instead we play slower than the Islanders on a lot of nights.

I just say that because every player says the same thing after a bad loss, and they've been doing it for two years. "We're frustrated, but there were positives to build on," or something similar. Every once in a while you get a guy (Bryan Boyle comes to mind) who goes off script, and it's noticeable.

I agree with the second paragraph. I just think there's likely a team directive for dealing with the media. They all sound a lot like Steve Yzerman sounded in his post-game interviews as a player. Diplomatic answers, disappointed but positive, rarely letting real frustration show. Although I'm sure behind the scenes the more competitive guys spent a lot of last season wanting to murder someone (*cough* Killorn *cough*).

 

[Sky04]

I just say that because every player says the same thing after a bad loss, and they've been doing it for two years. "We're frustrated, but there were positives to build on," or something similar. Every once in a while you get a guy (Bryan Boyle comes to mind) who goes off script, and it's noticeable.

I agree with the second paragraph. I just think there's likely a team directive for dealing with the media. They all sound a lot like Steve Yzerman sounded in his post-game interviews as a player. Diplomatic answers, disappointed but positive, rarely letting real frustration show. Although I'm sure behind the scenes the more competitive guys spent a lot of last season wanting to murder someone (*cough* Killorn *cough*).

I don't have a problem with what they say, the majority of the time it's correct - they do need to work harder, play with more effort etc etc, it may be "diplomatic" but it's also true. The problem is that it doesn't translate on the ice. I don't recall Boyle saying anything crazy more or less the same as everyone else. To me if the players don't know what they're doing wrong or how to change it it's a coaching issue.

 

[DFC]

I don't have a problem with what they say, the majority of the time it's correct - they do need to work harder, play with more effort etc etc, it may be "diplomatic" but it's also true. The problem is that it doesn't translate on the ice. I don't recall Boyle saying anything crazy more or less the same as everyone else. To me if the players don't know what they're doing wrong or how to change it it's a coaching issue.

I don't have a problem with it either. I'm just saying I'm pretty sure all teams have a hand in how their players deal with the media, and our guys have go-to lines.

And yeah, the frustrating thing, to me, is never what they're saying, but how it never seems to translate to more urgency on the ice. Even last year, I'm not sure that we saw more urgency because the season was almost lost, or if it was actually because half the team was injured and we were playing a bunch of young, hungry kids, who coincidentally (or maybe not coincidentally...) hadn't spent a lot of time in Coop's system.