Coaching Discussion: Jon Cooper - Part 2

[Hint1k]

he's forcing them to play "playoff hockey" all season

This season Bolts played games like this ("playoff intensity") only vs divisional teams who are in the race for the playoff spots.

So far the results are:
1) 10-0 vs divisional teams that were higher than Tampa in standings.

2) 1-2 vs divisional teams that were lower than Tampa in standings. It's just one random win vs Ottawa. Bolts should have lost that game. But Ottawa was even worse.

I wonder how long Tampa can keep this up before other teams will fully realize what is going on? Cause Bolts are simply abusing the Atlantic division with no resistance. At some point someone is going to respond to it by doing the exactly same thing. Keeping fuel in reserve vs some other teams, but playing hard vs Bolts on purpose.

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[Todd1a]

i believe that cooper's answer is what we're seeing now: he's forcing them to play "playoff hockey" all season so as to not develop bad habits and get swept again.

ironically, this is also what may make us miss the playoffs this season.

you definitely can’t play playoff hockey for a 6 month season if that’s his plan that’s stupid

 

[Master P]

you definitely can’t play playoff hockey for a 6 month season if that’s his plan that’s stupid

I think its more about playing playoff "style" hockey, not playoff intensity. That way, when the playoffs role around (if we make it) then everyone should be well prepared and ready to go.

Thats how I interpreted it.

 

[Felonious Python]

Artist rendition of Coop's face during last night's game.

Season saved. Team buy-in: 100%.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

I think its more about playing playoff "style" hockey, not playoff intensity. That way, when the playoffs role around (if we make it) then everyone should be well prepared and ready to go.

Thats how I interpreted it.

yeah, i mean, i don't know that im right. i just assume he's preparing them for the clutch ang grab/hitting style of the playoffs now, and foregoing all the style and glamour of last season.

its putting an emphasis on dirty goals for dumb players that smell bad. thats why killorn looks good


thats a lotta typing just to get in a pedestrian killorn sucks joke

 

[LTIR Trickery]

we love you too.... is some things will say vs wash the lines were off or awful he kept mixing up guys NOW one thing defensively as ive said that might have been the best 30 minutes of hockey this season lol....

rest as we know wash back to back absolutely was in dominating form.....

this is why i question right here ARE we hearing cooper the VETS not cirelli pointers etc... the other guys? they were the lines with stammer etc.. not looking great but honestly they were heavily playing defense .....


i dont know i just watch and evaluate..... we should have same system same lines mix match etc.. shouldnt matter etc.. yet the team struggles with this at times or often....

p.s. this is the messes with lines too much i thought was other way around....


AS FAR as to others on here ::::::: if there is a leadership problem WTF shut up burke

jeez

basically to win we need 1 goal from top line every game::::: we need 2-3 more goals so need more consistency at least in third and 4th to step up more often

i think they can then we can roll.... basically vasy gonna be vasy is struggling this year but he went on a bit of a roll and will keep doing that imho till he gets up to stats we all like.... you are gonna have this with any goalie at times is nature of the game

Burke is gonna talk - its the one thing hes good at.

Still stand by needing another defender and another forward.

 

[Master P]

Burke is gonna talk - its the one thing hes good at.

Still stand by needing another defender and another forward.

Chris Kreider for the forward.
What type of defensmen do you think we need? With the huge step Sergachev has taken and they way Rutta has improved I'm not sure where a new d-man would slot in.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Chris Kreider for the forward.
What type of defensmen do you think we need? With the huge step Sergachev has taken and they way Rutta has improved I'm not sure where a new d-man would slot in.

Not sure yet and yeah, his play is changing things. Prefer letting Schenn/Rutta/Sergy run with the job(s) would be ideal.
I'd still like to see Pageau in our bottom six, I think an all french third or fourth line would help. Pageau-Paq-Gourde would be a line full of bastards to deal with.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Not sure yet and yeah, his play is changing things. Prefer letting Schenn/Rutta/Sergy run with the job(s) would be ideal.
I'd still like to see Pageau in our bottom six, I think an all french third or fourth line would help. Pageau-Paq-Gourde would be a line full of bastards to deal with.

I'd be thrilled to get either Kreider or Pageau.

 

[Sky04]

yeah, i mean, i don't know that im right. i just assume he's preparing them for the clutch ang grab/hitting style of the playoffs now, and foregoing all the style and glamour of last season.

its putting an emphasis on dirty goals for dumb players that smell bad. thats why killorn looks good


thats a lotta typing just to get in a pedestrian killorn sucks joke

Sounds like a lame excuse for mediocre results this season if that's the logic. Tampa is seasoned team, this isn't a 2nd/3rd year playoff team they already know the playoff game considering they've been to the SCF and ECF 3 of the last 6 years.

Last night's game was far from "playoff level" and the Panthers are soft as hell, heck the whole division is. Beating up on the Atlantic is the dumbest way to "practice for the playoffs" considering all of our playoff losses have come from teams outside.

 

[Sky04]

i believe that cooper's answer is what we're seeing now: he's forcing them to play "playoff hockey" all season so as to not develop bad habits and get swept again.

ironically, this is also what may make us miss the playoffs this season.

How does this make sense when the defense has been absolutely horrible this season? If they were playing to develop "good habits" we would be seeing a more defensively sound team with smarter, low risk plays and generally lower scoring games as the team gets more structurally sound. I could get behind that stance if that's what we were progressively seeing but it's not.

Instead we're getting lazy games, bad defense, goaltenders getting pumelled and a team that shows up every 3 games or so.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

this time to be off hopefully is good and they can turn it on for next six games when come back.... that would go a long way at putting us in a position to start being what and where we deserve....

i love maroon's play so not sure on 4th line moving out stephens who is ready good player and doing awesome imho for verhaegh is a step up but bringing in another guy who can terrorize a bit sounds good.... when looking at sellers the one guy id target was niskanen for his pedigree and ability to play many styles of hockey whether offensively or shut down...

you all make good points rutta been good since first washington game actually he was reason for first two goals and the one behind net was atrocious to me..... but since then he has played WELL...... vasy needs to play better but he did go on run so expect that more then the lost vasy.....

i think we need to come back on friday with clear heads and just play lightning hockey the last few games we have been great except half of washington game..... the second half of that game again we dominated but we woke up too late against a great team and just cant do that

i like how we were gambling on break aways last night a lot... is something washingon did with us the game before is like maybe they saw that and implemented it? so thats interesting if this is the case and i feel it was....

happy holidays my friends be safe and well

 

[RussianGuyovich]

How does this make sense when the defense has been absolutely horrible this season? If they were playing to develop "good habits" we would be seeing a more defensively sound team with smarter, low risk plays and generally lower scoring games as the team gets more structurally sound. I could get behind that stance if that's what we were progressively seeing but it's not.

Instead we're getting lazy games, bad defense, goaltenders getting pumelled and a team that shows up every 3 games or so.

Clearly there is a problem spectrum, and my opinion was stated as that: just an opinion. I do see that they are less fancy this year.

Its not hard to imagine that the team is having trouble being motivated for the regular season, but that’s a poor excuse.

Also, it’s nice to see that sky’s argue gears need no motivation and he is constantly in playoff dialectic mode.

 

[These Are The Days]

Our whole "We can't beat playoff teams" story is overblown. The team spent the better part until Thanksgiving trying to get used to a brand new system because we were playing like 3 games every 2 weeks and no sooner than we do get the hang of it Vasy can't stop a freaking beach ball. Imagine that... the teams that had their act together in terms of knowing what system they were gonna run and a goalie who isn't letting in dead-on shots leak in through the 5-hole beat the shit out of us. All in all it adds up to the crappy season we're seeing now that none of us can stand. There's so much hockey left to be played and we're clinging to PSTD because it gives us some kind of frame of reference because we want to know the future but have no idea how it's gonna play out. Seriously.... deep breaths. There's about a 90-something percent chance Boston is winning the division and that we're finishing probably 2nd or 3rd in the Atlantic. So who does that mean? Probably Florida, Montreal or Toronto in round 1 and a good chance of Boston in round 2. If anyone has been paying attention this year then we should really like those odds. What happens beyond that is anyone's guess but we should be thankful we're taking our lumps now if we find ourselves getting back to the promised land.

It's no promise we even make the playoffs. But again there's so much hockey to be played and we're far from out of it.

 

[Felonious Python]

It's no promise we even make the playoffs. But again there's so much hockey to be played and we're far from out of it.

Right. We're only 4 pts behind Toronto for 2nd in the division with 3 games in hand. The Lightning aren't going to blow the doors off any points records this year, but the goal of all of this is to win the cup.

 

[The Macho King]

No we cant be the Caps and Blues. It's not "playoff teams".

 

[DFC]

No we cant be the Caps and Blues. It's not "playoff teams".

Yeah. Versus Boston, we've looked like the better team by a decent margin. Our one game vs. the Leafs was obviously an easy outing.

I think the Blues games were the two I've missed this year, so I can't comment, but Washington makes us look bad. That's a very, very long-standing tradition though. We're obviously prone to poor efforts, but the concerning thing is our results against Washington aren't about effort so much as just not matching up well. They have the answer to all the problems we present other teams.

 

[These Are The Days]

Yeah. Versus Boston, we've looked like the better team by a decent margin. Our one game vs. the Leafs was obviously an easy outing.

I think the Blues games were the two I've missed this year, so I can't comment, but Washington makes us look bad. That's a very, very long-standing tradition though. We're obviously prone to poor efforts, but the concerning thing is our results against Washington aren't about effort so much as just not matching up well. They have the answer to all the problems we present other teams.

I'm still optimistic about a series with the Caps. Palat is playing the best hockey of his career right now. If we add someone like Kreider teams are going to struggle against our heavier style of forecheck. Because if we split them up we will have two pitbulls who don't give the puck up. We will be much better able to dictate the possession game we are TRYING to push for this year. They're gonna get dizzy chasing after us no differently than we will with them. But we'll be able to fight fire with fire much better this time. With the addition of Shattenkirk doing everything he can to earn himself a whopping payday and Sergachev's coming out party being about as subtle as a sledgehammer to someone's kneecap, our defense is the most balanced it has ever been in the Jon Cooper era. Our ability to generate scoring chances from the point has been lacking for years and it forced us to cycle ourselves to death when teams boxed us out. With our new found shooting, teams are not boxing us out with the same efficiency as years past when they're actually trying at it. Dirty goals are finally a thing for us and so too is net-front presence. I mean... how nice were Killorn's last 2 goals? Gourde would've been proud. This team will probably struggle to win 50 games. Hell it's gonna struggle to stay consistent all year. But for once in our lives we aren't outscoring our structural problems. At this point our biggest problem is Vasy. He can and will find his groove again. It's been probably the ugliest season since 2016 but this might be the most confident I have ever been about teams throwing what they got at us and being able to withstand it. JBB, Cooper and the staff seem to have finally got the message as to why we fell short vs the Caps and CBJ.


Just fingers crossed we DO make the play for Kreider.

 

[Sky04]

Yeah. Versus Boston, we've looked like the better team by a decent margin. Our one game vs. the Leafs was obviously an easy outing.

I think the Blues games were the two I've missed this year, so I can't comment, but Washington makes us look bad. That's a very, very long-standing tradition though. We're obviously prone to poor efforts, but the concerning thing is our results against Washington aren't about effort so much as just not matching up well. They have the answer to all the problems we present other teams.

We beat out Washington in the season series last year, all 3 games were played in the last quater of the season when we very much our playoff spot locked up. When this team is on they can take Washington, those games aren't easy and requires a ton of hard skating so I disagree and that poor effort does in fact reflect their results against Washington.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

They won't have Trotz if we meet them in the playoffs this time.

 

[JoVel]

They won't have Trotz if we meet them in the playoffs this time.

The Caps have always kicked our ass. With or without Trotz.

 

[These Are The Days]

The Caps have always kicked our ass. With or without Trotz.

In the regular season.... They can barely muster a home win come playoff time against us. 3 series 1 home win

 

[Sky04]

In the regular season.... They can barely muster a home win come playoff time against us. 3 series 1 home win

So you're saying we'll get swept everytime we play Columbus cause track record?

 

[The Macho King]

In the regular season.... They can barely muster a home win come playoff time against us. 3 series 1 home win

And that one home win I spent 600 bucks for a ticket to...

 

[These Are The Days]

So you're saying we'll get swept everytime we play Columbus cause track record?

Just you dude because you seem to have to find a problem with anything anyone says regardless of the context. In this case it was reassuring another poster of our history vs the Caps in specific. You're the one dragging the CBJ into it because you seem to think a specific incident applies to everyone