Coaching Discussion: Jon Cooper - Part 2

[Sky04]

They did a serious 180 midway through this season and were the hottest team in the NHL in the second half, they are this years St.louis if people keep underestimating them. Not the same Flyers team most people are remembering, them suffocating us in RR wasn't a fluke. I think I'd rather take the Islanders who have less gamebreakers and this team is used to grind fests.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

You gotta give it to him. Coop is clearly outcoaching Trotz so far. New York's trying to slow the tempo down, and did it rather well in game 2, but Tampa is the one who controls the pace.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

I think Cooper has done a great job these playoffs but would rather someone more emotional for next round so can we fire him tomorrow?

[Insert Cooper's triple fist pump gif]

 

[These Are The Days]

John Tortorella may very well win this franchise a 2nd Stanley Cup by proxy. Some how, some way he had the CBJ being an even bigger pain in the ass than they were last year. Beating them wasn't some conventional "it was a war." Naw dawg, that shit came complete with starvation, trench warfare, chemical weaponry and Russian Winter 1941.

We still have 5 more wins to go. But we weren't just fighting CBJ, we were also fighting off the "choke" demon that's been plaguing us along with injuries. When we won that series it reminded me of the Caps when they finally beat the Pens

 

[Sky04]

Caps beating the Pens was a decade long battle, this wasn't anywhere close to that.

 

[These Are The Days]

Caps beating the Pens was a decade long battle, this wasn't anywhere close to that.

Losing to the Hawks, Pens, Caps and CBJ when the going got tough was a 5 year boogeyman for us. We got allergic to hard work under difficult circumstances. Beating CBJ confronted that for us. The Caps confined their boogeyman to being the Pens bitch for that long. It's just that the Lightning seem to have taken a mental step like the Caps did that year.


But you know what? Maybe I'm wrong anyway because the Caps can't get out of round 1 again.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Babcock's Detroit was the closest thing of a playoffs rivalry in recent memory. Torts' CBJ isn't close IMO.

 

[Felonious Python]

Babcock's Detroit was the closest thing of a playoffs rivalry in recent memory. Torts' CBJ isn't close IMO.

I'd say Boston starting from the 2011 ECF to beating them in 2018.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

No doubt.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

So, is Cooper over-matched in a potential matchup against Bowness?

If you told me this was a possibility 2 years ago I would have called you crazy.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Cooper returns to the big time to face down his former locker room bully.

 

[Sky04]

So, is Cooper over-matched in a potential matchup against Bowness?

If you told me this was a possibility 2 years ago I would have called you crazy.

Bowness definitely has the strategic advantage with him and Bishop over there, we have nothing on their players.

 

[DFC]

As much as we talk about the differences between this year and all the other years, I think the biggest difference is probably Cooper turning a corner. We can look back at the GDTs from October (almost a full year ago!) and see us noticing that the team was playing a different style, and there were a lot of growing pains. Pretty sure they even mentioned in the press that they were still adapting. And now it's paying off.

 

[Max McBolt]

Babcock's Detroit was the closest thing of a playoffs rivalry in recent memory. Torts' CBJ isn't close IMO.

Montreal

 

[Felonious Python]

Cooper returns to the big time to face down his former locker room bully.

Macaulay Culkin is 40 years old.

 

[Todd1a]

He is not through trotz yet two more chances to
Go

 

[Sky04]

He is not through trotz yet two more chances to
Go

Huh? Who cares, we have outplayed the Islanders 90% of this series and haven't been outcoached at any point in these playoffs. Losses have been due untimely mistakes not a systematic issue.

 

[LightningStrikes]

He is not through trotz yet two more chances to
Go

The only two games we lost against the Islanders were due to two unfortunate individual mistakes / blunders: McD turnover when he had like five better options to clear the zone and Shattenkirk fanning on a shot. Both times and all other games this series we were in total control, dictating the pace and creating way more prime scoring chances. Can’t blame Coop for any of those two losses.

 

[Todd1a]

The only two games we lost against the Islanders were due to two unfortunate individual mistakes / blunders: McD turnover when he had like five better options to clear the zone and Shattenkirk fanning on a shot. Both times and all other games this series we were in total control, dictating the pace and creating way more prime scoring chances. Can’t blame Coop for any of those two losses.

True but when you keep getting to all these ECF appearances sooner or later you got to get over the hump and advance to the finals the last two series we haven’t with 3-2 series leads this one vs the islanders we have to finally break through.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Every morning I wake up clutching the sheets mumbling to myself, "Sometimes the bounces don't go your way"

 

[DFC]

Huh? Who cares, we have outplayed the Islanders 90% of this series and haven't been outcoached at any point in these playoffs. Losses have been due untimely mistakes not a systematic issue.

The injuries have played a part too, as we've seen this series. We're also without Stamkos. And we've lost 4 times so far in the playoffs, which is still the fewest of any team in the playoffs.

Losing your top two centers would be impossible for just about any other team to overcome. It's probably impossible for us to overcome. We need Point to play.

Cooper has been fairly criticized in previous playoffs, IMO, but this one isn't on him. We've outplayed every opponent we've had. We outplayed NYI last night. We didn't dominate, but we got the better of the play. That's been the case in the vast majority of games these playoffs.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

The injuries have played a part too, as we've seen this series. We're also without Stamkos. And we've lost 4 times so far in the playoffs, which is still the fewest of any team in the playoffs.

Losing your top two centers would be impossible for just about any other team to overcome. It's probably impossible for us to overcome. We need Point to play.

Cooper has been fairly criticized in previous playoffs, IMO, but this one isn't on him. We've outplayed every opponent we've had. We outplayed NYI last night. We didn't dominate, but we got the better of the play. That's been the case in the vast majority of games these playoffs.

Pretty much. I've been as big a Cooper critic over the years as anyone, but I don't have anything bad to say about him, really. Even the dysfunctional second line is as much a byproduct of not wanting to break up the other two, perfectly functional lines as much as it is anything else. Up to this point, he bears little responsibility for things that have gone wrong.

 

[DFC]

Pretty much. I've been as big a Cooper critic over the years as anyone, but I don't have anything bad to say about him, really. Even the dysfunctional second line is as much a byproduct of not wanting to break up the other two, perfectly functional lines as much as it is anything else. Up to this point, he bears little responsibility for things that have gone wrong.

And not even that much has gone wrong. We're not gonna sweep our way to a championship. We've lost some tight games. This doesn't look anything like previous playoff failures.

 

[These Are The Days]

He is not through trotz yet two more chances to
Go

If we lose to the Islanders it's because we didn't have our 2 top centers -1 of whom managed to f*** himself up so bad on like the 2nd day of practice he missed the whole post-season. It literally comes down to nothing else

 

[Sky04]

And not even that much has gone wrong. We're not gonna sweep our way to a championship. We've lost some tight games. This doesn't look anything like previous playoff failures.

Yeah it's not like Washington or Columbus last year where the team looks lost in a rut and players are trying to play by themselves. We have a gameplan and we out battle the other team in just about every game this post-season. Even with 2 top centers down we were still creating and the chances were there, couldn't cash in a couple of close calls and some erroneous passes have caused us to lose. I thought most of the team was playing scared yesterday but even then we still looked to be in control.