GDT: 4/1/17 - 7:00PM EDT - Montréal VS Tampa Bay

[capebretoncanadien]

Habs fan coming in peace you Bolts played great despite me never hearing of half your lineup.

Kucherov had my heart in my throat at least half a dozen times and Vasilevsky was extraordinary.

Injuries ****ed us too last year I know them feels.

 

[capebretoncanadien]

PS Hedman wow what a smart player.

 

[JoVel]

PS Hedman wow what a smart player.

This was Hedman's worst game in a long long time.

 

[Hoek]

lol this thread is gold. Where y'all went wrong was not accepting the season was done 20 games ago. This little run has been fun to watch, but it was always very much a long shot.

And those questioning Cooper are absolutely right to, but not for tonight. Look at the rest of this season when we were relatively healthy and dropping points left and right. Two subpar seasons in a row should be concerning to any fan of this team, no matter what you think the cause is. Pretending there isn't something wrong is foolish.

I'm not a Fire Cooper guy but this is right. If you're going to criticize him, it's not for one game like tonight where 3/4ths of our centers are injured and we were bound to have an off night. It's for the rest of the season where they pissed away their cushion.

 

[The Macho King]

I'm not a Fire Cooper guy but this is right. If you're going to criticize him, it's not for one game like tonight where 3/4ths of our centers are injured and we were bound to have an off night. It's for the rest of the season where they pissed away their cushion.

I am in the fire Cooper camp and I agree. Game 77 is not the problem. Game Sent 1 -60 are.

 

[wxkid23]

I am in the fire Cooper camp and I agree. Game 77 is not the problem. Game Sent 1 -60 are.

Yep, and really the leaks in the raft started to show up before that (last year)

 

[DFC]

Yeah. The fact that we can rack up points with this skeleton of a lineup makes you wonder how it was possible for us to be so bad when we were relatively healthy.

 

[Rschmitz]

I'm not a Fire Cooper guy but this is right. If you're going to criticize him, it's not for one game like tonight where 3/4ths of our centers are injured and we were bound to have an off night. It's for the rest of the season where they pissed away their cushion.

Agreed. For his first 2 1/2 seasons he was known for getting maximum effort out of his players too. What changed

 

[bov]

Blaming Cooper is a bit weak for a team of this calibre imo. Not saying he has been perfect, but the players deserve much more of the blame for this disappointing season regardless of how it turns out.

There are a number of guys who you could've reasonably expected to continue progressing and instead they seemed to stagnate, perhaps even taking a step back (Sustr, Namestnikov, Brown etc. come to mind), while a few of the vets are noticably declining (Garrison, Stralman, Coburn to varying degrees). Furthermore, you could make the case that guys like Johnson, Palat and Killorn haven't quite been up to par for their standards if you take the whole season into consideration. Add in the injuries we've dealt with the whole time (plus you never really know who has been playing hurt, I have a few guesses), and I think it affords Cooper some rope still...

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

I don't know if it was discussed, but a few games before the Boyle trade we suffered a distinctly disappointing loss and it seemed like even he had just mentally collapsed at that dismal run we had for awhile. Something just wasn't right in that locker room.

 

[MattM92]

Blaming Cooper is a bit weak for a team of this calibre imo. Not saying he has been perfect, but the players deserve much more of the blame for this disappointing season regardless of how it turns out.

There are a number of guys who you could've reasonably expected to continue progressing and instead they seemed to stagnate, perhaps even taking a step back (Sustr, Namestnikov, Brown etc. come to mind), while a few of the vets are noticably declining (Garrison, Stralman, Coburn to varying degrees). Furthermore, you could make the case that guys like Johnson, Palat and Killorn haven't quite been up to par for their standards if you take the whole season into consideration. Add in the injuries we've dealt with the whole time (plus you never really know who has been playing hurt, I have a few guesses), and I think it affords Cooper some rope still...

This is a discussion we've had before. What is more likely, nearly every player regressing/stagnating all at the same time, or the coaching not getting the best out of the team?

 

[bov]

This is a discussion we've had before. What is more likely, nearly every player regressing/stagnating all at the same time, or the coaching not getting the best out of the team?

To me this is just the low hanging fruit when a team has an off year. You could really say that about almost any team with talent on their roster that isn't a powerhouse in the standings...it's not all on the coach.

There has to be an onus on the players to not only achieve to their potential regardless of who is behind the bench, but to adapt to the way the opposition plays them individually. The players I mentioned as an example have been given ample opportunity to succeed and develop, and Cooper certainly can't be blamed for older players showing their age...

If we're going to give Cooper flack for not getting the most out of the team or failing to make necessary systematic adjustments, I don't see why we can absolve the players when there's just as much of an adjustment process on their part of how to deal with the league adapting to them individually. While elite guys like Kucherov, Stamkos and Hedman can overcome this, the Johnsons/Killorns/Palats have yet to quite break that barrier and to me that's just a natural phenomenon that happens within the NHL to very good players on every team. So when you factor in the decline of other players as well as the guys who seem to have plateaud (not to mention injuries), I can't say it's an egregious coaching issue.

By no means am I suggesting Cooper is innocent, but to place that much blame on him considering all the circumstances is just a bit too easy imo. There is more than meets the eye with this team, that is for sure.

 

[NotProkofievian]

This is a discussion we've had before. What is more likely, nearly every player regressing/stagnating all at the same time, or the coaching not getting the best out of the team?

Early in the season I considered the Bolts the first serious test of the habs' mettle. I haven't watched your team enough to say what's really been going on, but if every player on your team (with the obvious exception of Kucherov) is ******** the bed, IMO, it's probably the coach. The inverse excuse was used to keep Therrien on life support. ''Therrien makes the habs a 100pt team, and look at how terrible our lineup is. Also, Bergevin is awesome.'' It's hard to see how an underperforming roster full of elite talent could exculpate a coach.

 

[RegularSznAllStars]

Drouin sucked ****ing nuts last night. If I see him make one more awful giveaway I am gonna lose it. He was detrimental to the team last night. Easily had 10+ giveaways. Not ever turnovers, they were ****ing giveaways Reminds me of stamkos from the last few years (before the start of this year).

 

[MattM92]

To me this is just the low hanging fruit when a team has an off year. You could really say that about almost any team with talent on their roster that isn't a powerhouse in the standings...it's not all on the coach.

There has to be an onus on the players to not only achieve to their potential regardless of who is behind the bench, but to adapt to the way the opposition plays them individually. The players I mentioned as an example have been given ample opportunity to succeed and develop, and Cooper certainly can't be blamed for older players showing their age...

If we're going to give Cooper flack for not getting the most out of the team or failing to make necessary systematic adjustments, I don't see why we can absolve the players when there's just as much of an adjustment process on their part of how to deal with the league adapting to them individually. While elite guys like Kucherov, Stamkos and Hedman can overcome this, the Johnsons/Killorns/Palats have yet to quite break that barrier and to me that's just a natural phenomenon that happens within the NHL to very good players on every team. So when you factor in the decline of other players as well as the guys who seem to have plateaud (not to mention injuries), I can't say it's an egregious coaching issue.

By no means am I suggesting Cooper is innocent, but to place that much blame on him considering all the circumstances is just a bit too easy imo. There is more than meets the eye with this team, that is for sure.

Sure, it might be low hanging fruit. But it doesn't concern you that the fruit has been so close to the ground two seasons in a row?

 

[Werewolf]

Drouin sucked ****ing nuts last night. If I see him make one more awful giveaway I am gonna lose it. He was detrimental to the team last night. Easily had 10+ giveaways. Not ever turnovers, they were ****ing giveaways Reminds me of stamkos from the last few years (before the start of this year).

^this.