GDT: 10/11/18 - 7:30PM EDT - Vancouver vs Tampa Bay

CupsOverCash

Registered User
Jun 16, 2009
16,353
7,092
Its like the PP and PK did a reversal. Effort needs to be better all around. Im kinda stumped in why this team cant score right now.
 

These Are The Days

Oh no! We suck again!!
May 17, 2014
34,119
19,684
Tampa Bay
I think the issue is that he probably doesn't say anything.

All through the second half of last season we heard guys say how the effort wasn't good enough and they know it needs to be better. Then come the playoffs. They get bye the Devils on talent alone. They dominate the Bruins and I'm thinking, "THIS is the team I've been waiting for" and then they completely disappear against the Caps. Then we hear all offseason how it taught them a lesson and how they're so ready to get back on the ice. Then we're only in game 2 of the season and we're already hearing the same ****. They didn't learn anything. The Caps were inferior talent wise to TB and completely steamrolled them with their hustle and up and down the lineup contributions. Their stars came to play, ours didn't. I don't care if it was 7 games. TB was barely holding on that entire series.

I get that this is game 2 of 82. I get that the preseason ultimately means nothing. That's not lost on me. But when you factor in how bad they were down the stretch last year, how they disappeared in the playoffs, how lackluster and uninterested they looked in the preseason (IT'S JUST THE PRESEASON, GUYS. IT'S NOT GONNA CARRY OVER) and how uninterested they've looked through the two games so far..it's really difficult to believe there isn't something systematically wrong with this team. I think Cooper has probably lost the room. Intensity is completely absent from the top 6 players on this team. I look at the Leafs and I'm like..."Holy ****". That team is intense. Everyone brings it. Then I look at TB being soft on the puck, lazy on the PP. It's so incredibly frustrating.
I'm not going to worry about it because it's two games. But if Coop has in fact lost the room he has to go end of story. I have no way of proving that he has so I won't be calling for his job. But I know well enough that once it has happened there is no going back. I don't want to see Cooper fired. But it's black and white and doesn't matter how I feel. Lose the room lose your job.

I'm not happy with Stamkos either. For a guy who has been through so much off the ice he is proving himself a poor example of how to overcome anything on the ice. If it's that bad call a meeting. Your coach is not your therapist. His job is X's and O's and yours is getting your team to fall in and follow orders and you slap them up the head and tell them to stop crying and man up
 

Todd1a

Kucherov or prospect
Jun 19, 2014
16,389
2,747
orlando, fl
I think the issue is that he probably doesn't say anything.

All through the second half of last season we heard guys say how the effort wasn't good enough and they know it needs to be better. Then come the playoffs. They get bye the Devils on talent alone. They dominate the Bruins and I'm thinking, "THIS is the team I've been waiting for" and then they completely disappear against the Caps. Then we hear all offseason how it taught them a lesson and how they're so ready to get back on the ice. Then we're only in game 2 of the season and we're already hearing the same ****. They didn't learn anything. The Caps were inferior talent wise to TB and completely steamrolled them with their hustle and up and down the lineup contributions. Their stars came to play, ours didn't. I don't care if it was 7 games. TB was barely holding on that entire series.

I get that this is game 2 of 82. I get that the preseason ultimately means nothing. That's not lost on me. But when you factor in how bad they were down the stretch last year, how they disappeared in the playoffs, how lackluster and uninterested they looked in the preseason (IT'S JUST THE PRESEASON, GUYS. IT'S NOT GONNA CARRY OVER) and how uninterested they've looked through the two games so far..it's really difficult to believe there isn't something systematically wrong with this team. I think Cooper has probably lost the room. Intensity is completely absent from the top 6 players on this team. I look at the Leafs and I'm like..."Holy ****". That team is intense. Everyone brings it. Then I look at TB being soft on the puck, lazy on the PP. It's so incredibly frustrating.
The leafs are hungry and right now we are not at all it’s frustrating to watch for sure
 

God King Fudge

Championship Swag
Oct 13, 2017
6,308
6,793
I'm not going to worry about it because it's two games. But if Coop has in fact lost the room he has to go end of story. I have no way of proving that he has so I won't be calling for his job. But I know well enough that once it has happened there is no going back. I don't want to see Cooper fired. But it's black and white and doesn't matter how I feel. Lose the room lose your job.

I'm not happy with Stamkos either. For a guy who has been through so much off the ice he is proving himself a poor example of how to overcome anything on the ice. If it's that bad call a meeting. Your coach is not your therapist. His job is X's and O's and yours is getting your team to fall in and follow orders and you slap them up the head and tell them to stop crying and man up

For sure. Even though I have concerns dating back way longer than the last two games, it is only two games this season. Even with a sloppy second half last season we still ended up tops in the East. They could come out and absolutely tear it up over the next 80 games and no one will remember this.
 

CupsOverCash

Registered User
Jun 16, 2009
16,353
7,092
Every season is different but last year we started real slow too. Although we were scoring goals. We were also getting scored on the PK. They had a lot of chances last night. Frustrating is a word to describe watching that game. I thought they lacked some effort late in the game though. Guys need to wake up. Especially our "top" line.
 

DFC

Registered User
Sep 26, 2013
46,842
22,685
NB
Or if you're DFC two years ago - "it's only 68 games guys!"

Sure, but we did miss the playoffs by a single point that year, and I was off the positivity bandwagon somewhere around game 40-45 and calling for Cooper's head. The opposite extreme is calling for his head after every bad game, and I've probably been guilty of that one too.

What worries me most is that our biggest problem in big games is actually our main strength--scoring ability--drying up. We've always had D issues, but that's never the thing that sinks us. It's always that, when the chips are down, we lose our ability to score. So whenever we see that happen, even two games in, it's a reminder of all the times it happened in Game Sevens.
 

CupsOverCash

Registered User
Jun 16, 2009
16,353
7,092
Especially when it has happened before, and we have missed the playoffs because of it. Injuries were a thing of course too, but we still should've made it.

Oh yea you cant blame that year soley on injuries. There were plenty of times where we just didnt come to play. In the end it hurt us and cost us the playoffs. I think had we made it that year we had the matchups to win it all. Plus the way we were playing at the end of the season, it really sucked we missed it.
 

Fabiobest

Italian Florida Man
Feb 4, 2017
8,639
4,370
Turin, Italy
If you're right and Cooper has lost his power in the dressing room, he's to go.
But I think he won't go anywhere till the end of the season at least. I'm saying that because idk if he's lost the room for real.
Of course I cannot have seen every single game, but I'm seeing that many important teams had a slow start, like Tampa.
Bolts, Penguins, Jets. And also the Sharks have the 0.5 win rate.
I suggest you to wait to the next 10 games. After 10-15 games we'll understand more about Coop power, for example.
Maybe, this year, Tampa wants to start the season in a very slow way, not finish the fuel during the spring.
Idk, I'm trying to be positive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CupsOverCash

berlin

04, 20, 21, CHAMPS
Jul 14, 2012
5,746
2,266
Kokomo
It’s kinda scary when the players are saying “we played a good game”. After the first period they got out-worked imo.
 

Stammertime91

TBL: TEAM OF THE CENTURY
Dec 13, 2011
12,960
11,355
Tampa: NHL's Newest Dynasty
Cooper has been the problem. He just conveniently is masked by heroics to lessen the embarassment. He's a good coach and I won't act like there's a perfect one, but the guy has some serious flaws with adapting and firing these guys up - from a fans perspective. There's no reason the team should be so mediocre in a conference final (Where your goalie saved you from being ousted in 5), preseason and the first two games. We look like a carbon copy.

Too cute with passing, "best" players look like a total sham with no look behind the back passes, passing on 2 on 1s. List goes on and on. Sergachev looks like a complete tire fire in his end because I guess nobody told him to put two hands on his stick, make a play before the year 2065 and get it out. Stamkos looks worse than a regular call up and Kucherov looks disinterested.

That's from 2 games. Same story every year. Eventually you have to part ways with 1 guy instead of 18, that being the coach.
 

Obviously

Registered User
Dec 4, 2013
1,616
201
Cooper has been the problem. He just conveniently is masked by heroics to lessen the embarassment. He's a good coach and I won't act like there's a perfect one, but the guy has some serious flaws with adapting and firing these guys up - from a fans perspective. There's no reason the team should be so mediocre in a conference final (Where your goalie saved you from being ousted in 5), preseason and the first two games. We look like a carbon copy.

Too cute with passing, "best" players look like a total sham with no look behind the back passes, passing on 2 on 1s. List goes on and on. Sergachev looks like a complete tire fire in his end because I guess nobody told him to put two hands on his stick, make a play before the year 2065 and get it out. Stamkos looks worse than a regular call up and Kucherov looks disinterested.

That's from 2 games. Same story every year. Eventually you have to part ways with 1 guy instead of 18, that being the coach.

Well said. This is a larger issue than “Its two games lol XD”. Cut the head off and start trimming the fat, this is not a winning module we’re icing.

Two goals in 12 very meaningful periods
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stammertime91

Master P

Registered User
Mar 31, 2016
19,515
26,012
Florida
This is the lines I want to see.

Palat - Johnson - Kuch
Stammer - Point - Miller
Gourde - Cirelli - Joseph
Killorn - Paquette - Erne
I completely agree with this. BUT, I also think that the team still needs a new voice. Cooper has had plenty of opportunities to take this team to the next level but he fails to adapt his game plan everytime. In the series against the caps, the players looked like they were just going through the motions because they knew what they were doing wasn't working. I think that this team has succeeded in spite of cooper, not because of him. He's not a bad coach, but I think its time for a change.

But hey, if these are the lines we go with and the team looks great again, i'll be happy to eat some crow.
 

Stammertime91

TBL: TEAM OF THE CENTURY
Dec 13, 2011
12,960
11,355
Tampa: NHL's Newest Dynasty
Well said. This is a larger issue than “Its two games lol XD”. Cut the head off and start trimming the fat, this is not a winning module we’re icing.

Two goals in 12 very meaningful periods

Not gonna act like I was the only one, but after the Caps series Cooper needed to go. This is not something Karlsson and mobile defenseman were going to change. Bruins acquired Kaberle and scored one PPG to win a cup. Hawks iced 3 defenseman in a finals and beat us. Pens were using Justin f***ing Schultz as a reclamation project that helped them win theirs. Caps didn't have two #1s and the depth we had, yet they won.

This roster is more than capable of winning a cup and has been the last few years but the inability to get it done has escaped us. It's time to move on from Cooper. Maybe get somebody that can make 91 become useful, instill a shooting mentality to the team and have them play with urgency instead of coasting or "flipping a switch."

The amount of passes and excuses he's getting is ridiculous. Guys gonna be like McClellan or AV and people are still going to praise him cause we lost 3 golden opportunities in the last 4 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LightningStrikes

CupsOverCash

Registered User
Jun 16, 2009
16,353
7,092
Whether it's game 2 or game 82 doesn't matter to me. The two points from a game on 10/11/2018 should mean just as much as the two points from the game on 04/04/2019... they all count towards getting into the playoffs.

Well this is true. We learned that a couple years ago. The game we thought didnt matter ended up mattering a ton.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BeingTheThunder

Stammertime91

TBL: TEAM OF THE CENTURY
Dec 13, 2011
12,960
11,355
Tampa: NHL's Newest Dynasty
Also, I'm tired of seeing line combos. There's only so many ways to combine shit with it still looking like shit. If I combine diarrhea and vomit with urine and rearrange them multiple ways, I'm still going to end up with something unpleasant. He can put whoever with whoever, it's not the problem. The system and awakening these guys from their spirits or egos IS the problem.

The fact that Mathieu Joseph (save Vasy) has looked like our best player in the first two games on a team with Point, Kucherov, Hedman, Stamkos, etc is damning.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->