GDT: 3/12/13 - 7:30PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Florida

[Bolts265]

God damn you all are a whiny bunch sometimes.

I think we care that we see our team playing like **** and it simply SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING!

 

[Tampacuseforever]

God damn you all are a whiny bunch sometimes.

Who's whiny ? Just an exchange of opinions, which is the purpose of this board isn't it ?

 

[The Macho King]

God damn you all are a whiny bunch sometimes.

I don't like watching losers. I want to watch winners.

 

[Bolt32]

I don't like watching losers. I want to watch winners.

I just want to watch them give a ****.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

To think they don't give a **** is downright foolish. All of these guys care, and all of them want to win. Many of them are young and need constant guidance and direction. Right now the problem is, this team is very fragile mentally and needs to learn to rebound and rally around both goaltenders. The guys have no answers - they've had games where they outwork an opponent and had no luck, they've had games where they try to play defensively, they've tried any number of different things. Line combinations. Styles. Shooting angles. They're trying... that part isn't difficult to see, but right now they're exacerbating play by basically not sticking to any particular plan and throwing everything at a wall right now. Is that on the players, or the coaching? A little of both. I've seen people playing ways i'd never imagine or expect (looking at you, 26); and i've seen people play ways they played before with a different coach and less direction (cough 25 under Tocchet cough). To say they don't give a **** is disingenuous. They care, but its a roster that had almost no training camp and still needs to figure out "what" exactly it is.

Here is why i've made my comment. I've seen a lot of **** with this team... japanese owner who had no idea what hockey was, owners that couldn't stop fighting, coaching that lost a locker room, coaching that had a decent emphasis on single player development but had no idea how to run a team as a unit. Because of our struggles this season, with so many things stacked against us (short camp, condensed schedule, early injuries, depending heavily on player growth to drive this team) so many are willing to throw Guy to the wayside without trying to truly strip emotion from all of this and look at it objectively. Goaltending needs work. Defense is still finding its footing. Offense has been lazy, and poor defensively - potentially trying to do too much.

I love the guys and as much as it pains me to say it, because they're great people... look objectively at what has been good and bad.

Its hard for me to truly pile on about some coaching, or some defensive stuff - look back a few years. Our defense carried us on a lot of nights leading up to the playoffs, at least towards the end of that season. Then it became a door that closed solidly. They got great life out of guys who didn't (allegedly) have a lot left - Ohlund. Brewer. Clarkie. Bergeron.

Hell, they got more tread last year out of guys, too. Gervais was a great, cheap, simple RH D pickup. Randy ****ing Jones was fantastic, for being a #7 defender. Got some tread on Mikkelson, Lee - although the Lee experiment has been lacking this season.

Our offense has been 8th in the league every year since Guy took over. Most teams would kill for an offense like this. When we're on offensively, we're ****ing money and i'd put our roster toe to toe with anyones. Bring on Pittsburgh - hell I think we have better wingers. We're second in the league for goals/game with 3.38 right now, we're on the north side of GF/GA at even strength with 1.05. PK is at 83% which is incredible considering our struggles to clear our zone.

Guys, we have some really good **** going on here which is blinded by a few struggles. We've got to have a little patience here to get things clicking. If, or when, things come together this season, its going to happen very quickly and very angrily.

 

[The Macho King]

I agree with some, disagree with a lot of what you said.

First, we have pretty much missed the injury bug this season until recently. Malone is the only guy who missed a ton of time early, and that allowed us to bring up Killorn. We are probably close to the bottom of the league in games missed, I'd imagine.

Second, this team is bad. Is it year before Stamkos bad? Eh... no, but for different reasons. This isn't a team. This is a collection of individuals who don't play that well together. This is what I put on Boucher. You said it yourself, we clearly have the talent. Talent-wise I think our offense is top-3. But there are five skaters out there. Five different players. We don't need five skaters out there, we need one team.

This is what I put on Boucher. So much blame goes on the assistant coaches or on the goaltending, but the fact of the matter is this team doesn't play like a team. That's why we can't breakout. That's why our Dzone coverage is so bad. That's why we have problems entering the zone. That's why we lose so many puck battles. You need five players who know what to do, where to go, and support the people on the ice with them. I don't see that night in, night out. When we don't get that support, it looks like lack of effort. It's not, it's just lack of cohesion.

The struggles we've had (condensed season, short camp, etc.) are not unique, but seem to be effecting us more than most other teams. That is because Boucher has not been able to adapt. He doesn't know what the **** to do. He left Lindback out there for too long, and it backfired. He hands out minutes in a way that makes no ****ing sense, and juggles lines to the point where if someone asks a Lightning fan how our lines work, we just kind of stare blankly. Matt Carle leads the team on TOI most nights, and ends up in late game situations where he so obviously shouldn't be, while our #2 overall pick, the guy that has been blossoming and shown actual offensive acumen, rides the pine.

It seems like the reason you favor Boucher is that we've had worse. Yeah, we have had worse. But also, importantly, we've had better. I don't want to get used to losing, but I am. Under Boucher, we've had one good season, and now, two bad ones. And all I hear him offer are excuses and platitudes. Sorry, I can't anymore. He opens his mouth and I hear hot air.

 

[Tampacuseforever]

I agree with some, disagree with a lot of what you said.

First, we have pretty much missed the injury bug this season until recently. Malone is the only guy who missed a ton of time early, and that allowed us to bring up Killorn. We are probably close to the bottom of the league in games missed, I'd imagine.

Second, this team is bad. Is it year before Stamkos bad? Eh... no, but for different reasons. This isn't a team. This is a collection of individuals who don't play that well together. This is what I put on Boucher. You said it yourself, we clearly have the talent. Talent-wise I think our offense is top-3. But there are five skaters out there. Five different players. We don't need five skaters out there, we need one team.

This is what I put on Boucher. So much blame goes on the assistant coaches or on the goaltending, but the fact of the matter is this team doesn't play like a team. That's why we can't breakout. That's why our Dzone coverage is so bad. That's why we have problems entering the zone. That's why we lose so many puck battles. You need five players who know what to do, where to go, and support the people on the ice with them. I don't see that night in, night out. When we don't get that support, it looks like lack of effort. It's not, it's just lack of cohesion.

The struggles we've had (condensed season, short camp, etc.) are not unique, but seem to be effecting us more than most other teams. That is because Boucher has not been able to adapt. He doesn't know what the **** to do. He left Lindback out there for too long, and it backfired. He hands out minutes in a way that makes no ****ing sense, and juggles lines to the point where if someone asks a Lightning fan how our lines work, we just kind of stare blankly. Matt Carle leads the team on TOI most nights, and ends up in late game situations where he so obviously shouldn't be, while our #2 overall pick, the guy that has been blossoming and shown actual offensive acumen, rides the pine.

It seems like the reason you favor Boucher is that we've had worse. Yeah, we have had worse. But also, importantly, we've had better. I don't want to get used to losing, but I am. Under Boucher, we've had one good season, and now, two bad ones. And all I hear him offer are excuses and platitudes. Sorry, I can't anymore. He opens his mouth and I hear hot air.

Great argument on both sides, but I have to agree with the above. It is the coaches job to bring cohesion and teamwork into the equation. You can't work as a unit with the constant juggling of lines and over coaching methods that are being employed. PS I really do like Boucher and hope he stays but PLEASE stop changing things up constantly.