Speculation: 2018 Off-Season: We fell short again... now what do we do?

[Coopers Gum]

Tavares and

...

...

That's all I got. Crappy FA crop this year.

Sweet.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

RHD free agents are slim outside of Green and Carlson.

For forwards... pretty damn slim. I think Yzerman will do the predictable thing and sign Joel Ward or re-sign Kunitz. Matt Calvert is the other guy who could be a fit in the bottom six, but he'll probably cost around $3M.

I think our main target should be a backup goalie who can shoulder more starts. Guys that come to mind are Khudobin, Bernier, Lehtonen, Hutchinson. We need to get rid of Budaj, and as much as I like Dom, I don't think he's the right fit. I'd prefer an experienced backup who's experienced the starter role at some point and doesn't have a sub-.910 SV%.

 

[T REX]

Cooper getting hammered on local radio. Someone even used the Dungy analogy.

 

[The Macho King]

RHD free agents are slim outside of Green and Carlson.

For forwards... pretty damn slim. I think Yzerman will do the predictable thing and sign Joel Ward or re-sign Kunitz. Matt Calvert is the other guy who could be a fit in the bottom six, but he'll probably cost around $3M.

I think our main target should be a backup goalie who can shoulder more starts. Guys that come to mind are Khudobin, Bernier, Lehtonen, Hutchinson. We need to get rid of Budaj, and as much as I like Dom, I don't think he's the right fit. I'd prefer an experienced backup who's experienced the starter role at some point and doesn't have a sub-.910 SV%.

I'd keep Dominique honestly. I don't think he had any really bad games the past year, is young and has a bit of upside, and will come cheap. Khudobin is going to be inflated, Bernier is kind of a headcase, and Hutchinson... hard pass there. Lehtonen could be an option because I think he has game-stealing potential but he also has "cough up the game" potential, while I think Dom is much more steady (which is ideal for a backup).

 

[HoseEmDown]

Uh.. These were actual goals, you know, that went on the scoreboard just like ES goals do.

That's what we pay Stamkos for, he's a shooter. In the playoffs, when space and time are limited, the PP is the best opportunity for him and he did well at it.

We pay him 8.5 to only score when we are on the PP? Brett Connolly didn't have that much trouble finding space and time to score more goals with much less time on the ice in the playoffs. Stamkos just isn't an elite player anymore even though he's being paid like one. He's a 2C who gets his stats inflated with PP points and playing with one of the best in the league. Guy should not be our captain any longer, the team is going nowhere with him as the leader.

 

[T REX]

I guess this wasn't a Cup team after all. My bad.

 

[JAMES TITTLE]

Van Riemsdyk
James Neal
John Carlson

 

[RussianGuyovich]

We didn’t match up well against the caps. Our worst area (RD) was their strength (ovi/orlov bombs from the right side). Also, vasy just wasn’t their yet. Good enough to win, but not good enough to steal wins.

This hurts.

 

[Lightning1995]

Some additional thoughts....

-Split Stammer and Kuch permanently except for the PP.
-Get Heddy a better partner. I don’t want Serge out of position. So if he likes the right side, fine, great he stays there long term. That’s his position going forward.
-Deal Coburn, even eat some salary if needed, and play KK with Girardi on the 3rd pair. Or better yet pair him with Mike Green!
-Guorde is still very valuable as a bottom 6 guy, not getting paid much. I don’t want to see him in the top 6 anymore barring injury. He’s a junkyard dog, but still a smaller dude with limited skill.
-I’m torn on what to do with TJ. Still like him, just seems logical he’s the guy to deal due to NTC status to shake things up.
-retool the 4th line around Cally and pray he is healthy in the playoffs. Kunitz is done. Paquette May get some decent money after this playoff run and I don’t think TB needs to pay him.
-If Point will take more money now for a discounted long term deal I would be all over that.

 

[Master P]

We didn’t match up well against the caps. Our worst area (RD) was their strength (ovi/orlov bombs from the right side). Also, vasy just wasn’t their yet. Good enough to win, but not good enough to steal wins.

This hurts.

What!?

 

[JAMES TITTLE]

New to the forum and kinda new to hockey. Very impressed with the knowledge you guys post here. Been a lightning fan since moving here from Miss. in 2012. Getting a good education on this board. Thanks.

 

[DownIsTheNewUp]

Everyone's gotta have a scapegoat, seems most want to blame either Stamkos or Cooper

Let's look at our 4 losses this series:
Game 1 - Team comes out flat, forecheck doesn't work against Washington's 1-4, Stamkos scores PP goal
Game 2 - Team flat again, No adjustments made after being dominated Game 1, Stamkos scores PP goal and assist.
Game 6 - Team flat again, Team gets shut out.
Game 7 - Team finally has energy, Lots of possession time but mostly held to perimeter of offensive zone, Team gets shut out.

I don't see how anybody can look at these four losses and point the finger at Stamkos. he could have scored in Game 6 and 7 and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. As we've seen throughout Coopers tenure, completely inconsistent effort out of the team. No real meaningful adjustments after it was clear that our system wasn't matching well to theirs. Game 6 and 7 were shutouts, that's a team wide failure, that's on Cooper.

 

[Sky04]

Everyone's gotta have a scapegoat, seems most want to blame either Stamkos or Cooper

Let's look at our 4 losses this series:
Game 1 - Team comes out flat, forecheck doesn't work against Washington's 1-4, Stamkos scores PP goal
Game 2 - Team flat again, No adjustments made after being dominated Game 1, Stamkos scores PP goal and assist.
Game 6 - Team flat again, Team gets shut out.
Game 7 - Team finally has energy, Lots of possession time but mostly held to perimeter of offensive zone, Team gets shut out.

I don't see how anybody can look at these four losses and point the finger at Stamkos. he could have scored in Game 6 and 7 and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. As we've seen throughout Coopers tenure, completely inconsistent effort out of the team. No real meaningful adjustments after it was clear that our system wasn't matching well to theirs. Game 6 and 7 were shutouts, that's a team wide failure, that's on Cooper.

When you're shut out for 2 games straight, player-wise the finger starts at the highest paid forward then goes down. He could've scored in game 6 or 7 and it could've turned the tide, nobody said he had to win it for the team but he certainly didn't show up either. You don't think the leader of a forward group that gets heldscoreless for 8 periods takes no responsibility?


All it does not is further cement that he's not a big game player. He wasn't awful this series but has a history of not showing up when it matters, look no further then his game 7/elimination track record.

 

[Sky04]

What was the cost for Karlsson? Because our d-men were absolutely horrible at getting the puck on net, terrible shots all round starting from the big guy 77.

 

[T REX]

Stammer was a ghost in games 6 & 7. Ovi came to play and our guy wilted. Sad. Stammer is overrated.

 

[cheech70]

To me the series changed in game 6 roughly the 2nd period. Wilson and Smith Pelley started throwing there weight around and Tampa was back on there heals.. They stopped skating. Cooper on TV said that his team needs to skate as 5 man units to be effective. It continued in game 7 where the Bolts were tentative in there skating and passing. Its always the chicken or the egg analogy. Did the Caps hitting cause the Bolts to be tentative? Or did the Bolts tentative play energize the Caps? What came first? I was very impressed with Tom Wilson and his effect on the game. My eyes saw that Wilson changed the series. As a Rangers fan I am curious if success in the playoffs still requires that skilled sandpaper player that could positively tilt a series to his team? Not all skill and speed but a little edge needs to be a part of a winning formula.

 

[Stammertime91]

Wilson is a good player but he did not change this series. Players get hit all the time and I'm willing to bet that sure they keep their head up when Wilson is on the ice but it wasn't just him. When they something 9 forwards over 6 foot and over 200lbs, they can play heavy even if they're just finishing their checks. We can't play that style against a bigger team. We got away with tenderizing Jersey and Boston because they aren't huge and fast like Washington. There's only so much Johnson, Gourde, Cirelli and Point can do physically before they look like a kid held at bay from a bigger kid putting his hand on their head. Point looked ineffective, and not because of Wilson. They looked ineffective because we are comprised of small players and bigger ones that play small. It was a size mismatch and a style mismatch.

I still think if we start at game 1 with a different coach/system, we don't do what we did. Pretty disappointing Cooper rolled the dice and thought Vasy would save our ass - again. No offensive production to help him in nearly 3 full games. Hope he threw skate blades at everyone.

 

[MattM92]

To me the series changed in game 6 roughly the 2nd period. Wilson and Smith Pelley started throwing there weight around and Tampa was back on there heals.. They stopped skating. Cooper on TV said that his team needs to skate as 5 man units to be effective. It continued in game 7 where the Bolts were tentative in there skating and passing. Its always the chicken or the egg analogy. Did the Caps hitting cause the Bolts to be tentative? Or did the Bolts tentative play energize the Caps? What came first? I was very impressed with Tom Wilson and his effect on the game. My eyes saw that Wilson changed the series. As a Rangers fan I am curious if success in the playoffs still requires that skilled sandpaper player that could positively tilt a series to his team? Not all skill and speed but a little edge needs to be a part of a winning formula.

Wilson had a big effect on this series. For sure. What bothers me is when he starts leading with the elbows on a rookie in the 3rd period of a 3-0 game 7. He's a stupid player and his edge very regularly brings him over the line.

 

[cheech70]

Wilson had a big effect on this series. For sure. What bothers me is when he starts leading with the elbows on a rookie in the 3rd period of a 3-0 game 7. He's a stupid player and his edge very regularly brings him over the line.

Absolutely Wilson is a jerk.

Also last night it seemed that Tampa eased up on the fore-check early in the game..it looked like a type of neutral zone trap? Did I see it correctly?

 

[These Are The Days]

I thought your plan was get shots from the blue line. My bad. That's the problem, we couldn't. His adjustment on a high forward was a double whammy, we get the puck up top regardless of who it is and hit the first man what seems like 9/10 times.

In a perfect world, some of those shots do come from the point. Guys like Orlov and Carlson had twice and 3 times as many shots on goal as Hedman. In a perfect world the defensemen are able to shift their position on the cycle and are able to anticipate where the puck is going and just don't have 3 people running around in circles against 5 defenders because their other 2 teammates are parked at the blue line and are otherwise gonna fumble the puck the moment they touch it. Sergachev can cycle efficiently but he still needs grooming in order to be our go to guy for getting shots through. Hedman can cycle too it but he shoots wide 90% of the time. But as for the rest of what we see, it's what the likes of Stralman, Coburn, Girardi and McDonagh do. They'll dump it and the forwards do the work. The only thing Coop had left to try was let them move on the cycle down low while a more competent shooter generated chances from outside the defensive box. Occasionally they'll scoot up and shoot but are otherwise cheating towards the blue line in anticipation of the counter attack. For a brief glimmering moment we WERE getting some chances but plays to tie the game died on the stick of Cirelli and Gourde being less physical than the men defending them. The problem is as the game went on it stopped working because we started feeling bad for ourselves after it was 2-0. No hunger, no drive. No spirit. Just zombies.

I'm pissed at Cooper because Stamkos and Kucherov need their f***ing hands held to actually shoot the puck. Here we have the only player in the world who still yet rivals Laine and Ovechkin in terms of being the best pure shooter in the world and all he can do is play "no you shoot it!" like two teenagers on the phone saying "no you hang up!" and Stamkos WON'T f***ing do it. And Kucherov? Lost in the woods turning the puck over every chance he gets because he's too busy playing "no you shoot it" with Stamkos. If Cooper deserves to lose his job, it's that every damn player on our team actually tried but them at some point or another. Well then again Johnson was pretty bad but that's normal for him anymore. Split up Stamkos and Kucherov, call them out in front of the team, put them on the 4th line for a few shifts and publicly embarrass them for all I care. But otherwise I'm not gonna get overly upset at Cooper's game plan. In a world with any puck luck at all we would have had a better contest. If I sit back and think hard enough I can understand why he did it and I can forgive him. What I can't forgive him for is that we blew yet another series that we had in the palm of our hand.

If we fired him next week I'd be indifferent. I would like to see him get one last shot but if Yzerman's had it then I'm not gonna complain.

 

[These Are The Days]

Amazing so many of you guys lay the blame on Stamkos when this team was clearly outcoached the whole series. You could have replaced Stamkos with McDavid or Crosby and the result of this series would not have been any different. Washington played a better system, no one player can overcome that.

Stamkos has played what, 6 or 7 game 7's and is goose eggs even under Guy Boucher.

 

[Stammertime91]

When they pissed that powerplay into the wind and Gourde missed his open net, I think our souls were ripped out.

 

[CupsOverCash]

This team was too soft. We need a little more size and grit in our line up. Not a lot. Just enough to put some fear in opposition.

 

[DownIsTheNewUp]

Stamkos has played what, 6 or 7 game 7's and is goose eggs even under Guy Boucher.

I understand Stamkos hasn't been good in game 7s. My point is, hockey isn't a sport that one player wins or loses for the team (except maybe goalies in extreme examples). It's such team game, especially in the playoffs, the system you play is more important than any individual player. The fact is, this roster had the talent to take out the Caps, it shouldn't have even gone to 7 games. But when you try to do the same things over and over again that aren't working, as a coach you have to find an adjustment that works, and Cooper failed to do that.

 

[These Are The Days]

I understand Stamkos hasn't been good in game 7s. My point is, hockey isn't a sport that one player wins or loses for the team (except maybe goalies in extreme examples). It's such team game, especially in the playoffs, the system you play is more important than any individual player. The fact is, this roster had the talent to take out the Caps, it shouldn't have even gone to 7 games. But when you try to do the same things over and over again that aren't working, as a coach you have to find an adjustment that works, and Cooper failed to do that.

What is Cooper going to do? Stamkos is a one-trick pony from the dot. He's not physical, he doesn't pass well, he doesn't defend well. He's kinda sorta okay at killing penalties. But if you shut down Stamkos there is very little else he does well that will make any difference