Speculation: Official bad Lightning team is bad thread

[These Are The Days]

We seem to populate just about every other thread and particularly the gameday threads with discussions about what's wrong with the team. While it makes for great conversation, I've noticed that it just kind of dies and some points get left behind. For the sake of game by game consistency, I figure we can put it all in one place.

I'll start off by the point made about dump and chase. It's part of Cooper's system and it requires that you actually bust tail out there.

No one had a problem with it when it worked last year. It worked because we busted our tail. We could count on the entire KFC line, Boyle, Brown and Palat to attack the zone, dominate the walls and control the puck. Every night was a team of hungry dogs, particularly the TKO line. But this year the boys are softer than butter and everyone can see it. There's no vigor in our attack. As soon as a guy like Killorn gets muscled, he lets it go and then suddenly the defense backs off like it just saw a dragon and we're screaming "GWAAHH CAN WE HAVE IT FOR MORE THAN 5 SECONDS?"

The dejected sulking and excuses game after game are a telltale sign of a team that has given up. Whomever drew the comparison to 2011 is spot on. However, Cooper's scheme is not the problem here, it's the player's unwillingness to go out and do it. We aren't suddenly doing anything different than last year or the year before when we had so much success. It's easy to figure a team out when it doesn't play hard anymore.

This doesn't boil down to a fundamental system flaw like Montreal losing Carey Price and falling flat on its face. This doesn't even boil down to an entire system flaw like when Boucher REFUSED to adjust form "le trap" when our goaltending and defense fell on its face and we needed to force the issue offensively from game to game. Instead, we would swirl around the neutral zone doing our best impression of water going down a toilet and pass backwards to side to side and then backwards again until someone gained the blue line and dumped it in for a line change.

Cooper did EVERYTHING he could to adjust the scheme to keep the games at 1-0 or 2-1 for pretty much all of November because half of the top 6 went down at the same time. We tried and failed at that. We've opened it up some more since then. We've had Stamkos and Kucherov carrying the bulk of the load and it took the callups from Syracuse to carry the team from night to night. See for yourselves. Now that actual effort is involved than basic keep-away and we are FAILING at it, the boys are doing their best impression of that spoiled ass 7 year old kid that lived next door to you. You remember? The one that would break down in tears, thrash around throwing a tantrum and would shriek, "YOU'RE NOT MY FRIEND ANYMORE!! I'M GOING HOME!!!" and would actually tell on you because you got tired of playing their stupid game where they would change the rules as soon as you got good at it to make sure they never lost? That's us right now.

Ask yourselves the question: "Where would we be without Marchessault right now?"

Once you come to your answer, you can see that it's a fundamental flaw with how the team was constructed by Yzerman. We have no MSL or TKO line to carry the rest of the roster anymore and it's starting to show.

Click to read more...

 

[Brie]

I agree with you as well as everyone in the GDTs.

I’m just tired of watching this, especially since you can see where some of the problems are yet the team can’t seem to see it. Now of course there might be much more but some of the things can be fixed if they really wanted to change it.

One thing is the mentality, last season they were playing with an “always attack” – mentality that sure, sometimes the ‘d’ suffered a bit but they could still win games 6-5 or 5-4 and it was fun to watch because the other goalie never knew when the attack would happen and had to stand on his head to not get scored on a lot, this season however they are playing with a “defense first” mentality which is ok when you’re up 2+ goals but to play it when you need to score, especially when you’re down, is just messed up. I’d say to try and find a balance between the two would be ok if it meant that they could switch it depending on how the game looks but if they can only play with one kind of mentality then I prefer the attack first one since that was really fun to watch.

The other thing that the team struggle with is how they play in their own zone. Last season since they did play with the “always attack” – mentality the ‘d’ as well as Bish sometimes always got the puck out of their zone almost as quick as it entered their zone and got the attack going which meant that the other team were either unable to make line changes since they couldn’t give us the room to use our speed which meant that they were often tired and made mistakes that we made them pay for or they did make line changes that we could take advantage of since it gave us a lot of room. This season however we like to pull the puck back into our zone when we have it which means that the other team have plenty of time to make whichever line changes they want and always come out with fresh legs as well as it gives them time to mobilize themselves and get ready and when we do try and attack there is already 4-5 players from the other team either already in our zone or waiting on the blue line and can either stop us by taking the puck and attack us instead or they can box us out and keep us along the boards which means that the SOG that we do get through are pretty bad.

Of course someone else might not think these are the case but it’s how I see it watching the games. I know that it’s not easy to change it but it might be worth it for the team to look into why they keep doing these things.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Saw an opportunity last night that would have gone in last year. Why didn't it go in? Because they passed off the opportunity.

 

[Hoek]

Why is this marked as speculation? This is fact.

 

[Coopers Gum]

Why is this marked as speculation? This is fact.

Should be confirmed with link: http://lightning.nhl.com/club/roster.htm , http://lightning.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=109144

 

[MattM92]

It's such ******** to say that Cooper isn't at least a part of the problem. Sure, the players could be trying harder or doing something to try to turn it around, but what has Cooper done to help? The tight defense we had earlier in the season had more to do with Bishop than the defense. The PP has remained pretty muh unchanged all year. The line juggling has been non-stop. He still refuses to match lines and pairings, i.e. Carle and Sustr out against Eichel.

The PP has been awful for most of the year. Remember the shot clock thing Cooper did at practice? That was ****ing stupid and some peewee ****. The solution for that is so simple it hurts. Tell the guys that there are to be no more than 3 passes before a shot. Even if the player making the 4th pass directly contributed to a goal, he sits a shift. That's it. Hold the players accountable! We saw the shot clock at practice and I still see Filppula holding the puck for 10 seconds at a time on the half boards. Has his ice time been cut? Has he been taken off the PP? Has there been any negative consequence for failing to follow coached instructions? Not even one.

Cooper is too much of a cool guy. He is a great developmental coach because he befriends the players and players like him, but that's not conducive to success at the NHL level. Sure, he could be totally different from his schmoozing persona we see at post game pressers once he walks back into that locker room, but we haven't seen one lick of evidence to show that he's lighting a fire under anybody. Stamkos said it himself: "We should be more pissed off".

 

[These Are The Days]

@Matt

Cooper is not without fault (like breaking up Stamkos and Kucherov was STUPID) and I'm sure the offense could stand to be unleashed more but what is that going to do for us? They don't go after it. They're not tenacious. They don't skate hard. They're chicken scared to rush the blue line. If you go full shotgun fury with the 1st line and then you're leaving Sustr and Carle to actually defend a rush back the other way if it doesn't work. I completely understand why we haven't done it this year.

I've into extensive detail as to why Sustr and Carle only play with the scoring lines. Long story short the scoring lines have the puck, get starts in the offensive zone and it therefore limits ANY actual work that Carle and Sustr have to do. Trust me, I was throwing my hat across the room and yelling at the top of my lungs all year when I saw Sustr/Carle with the scoring lines. Then one game in the playoffs I saw the TKO line get caught in their own zone, Carle and Sustr would go for a skate and messed everything up.

I was thinking wow the TKO line NEVER gets scored on what were Sustr and Carle thinking? They went and ruined everyth- wait a second.... Then it hit me. "THEY NEVER GET SCORED ON BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS HAVE THE PUCK! THAT'S WHY THOSE DIMWITS ARE ALWAYS OUT THERE WITH THE SCORING LINES!! COOPER I'M SORRY!!!" I swear to God I bowed before my television set in the ingenuity behind Cooper's logic to somehow be able to use the two of them effectively. You can't have one of them crippling the other 2 pairings so you put them together and put them out with the possession group.

As for the power play I've given up on it. We know how often Coop schools them and tries to get them to fix it. Given the tactics the Lightning fanbase KNOWS he employs and they still can't even muster a shot on goal, I don't blame him anymore Matt. He's even treated them like children and put them on a shot clock, they STILL don't get it! That's not a coaching issue. The players are freaking idiots, Matt. It would be like saying about a football team, "The offensive line is so bad!! I blame the offensive line coach!" but the line has been the same for essentially 2 years. That argument is warranted against a coach without a track record. But if you want to dig up ancient history to Cooper's track record then let's go ahead. Cooper's AHL power plays were ranked 9th and 2nd in his two seasons with Norfolk and then 12th respectively in his abbreviated season with Syracuse. Cooper is not some idiot who is going out of his league here.

This team is a fringe playoff contender dude to Ben Bishop with several fundamental issues that was carried to the playoffs by St. Louis and Stamkos in 2013 and then the the TKO line in 2014 like Superman. Yzerman has done a hell of a job trying to put together a champion but right now we need turnover. The expression is true: you can't teach stupid.

Mr. Superman no here and the Lightning suck because of it.

 

[MattM92]

@Matt

Cooper is not without fault (like breaking up Stamkos and Kucherov was STUPID) and I'm sure the offense could stand to be unleashed more but what is that going to do for us? They don't go after it. They're not tenacious. They don't skate hard. They're chicken scared to rush the blue line. If you go full shotgun fury with the 1st line and then you're leaving Sustr and Carle to actually defend a rush back the other way if it doesn't work. I completely understand why we haven't done it this year.

I've into extensive detail as to why Sustr and Carle only play with the scoring lines. Long story short the scoring lines have the puck, get starts in the offensive zone and it therefore limits ANY actual work that Carle and Sustr have to do. Trust me, I was throwing my hat across the room and yelling at the top of my lungs all year when I saw Sustr/Carle with the scoring lines. Then one game in the playoffs I saw the TKO line get caught in their own zone, Carle and Sustr would go for a skate and messed everything up.

I was thinking wow the TKO line NEVER gets scored on what were Sustr and Carle thinking? They went and ruined everyth- wait a second.... Then it hit me. "THEY NEVER GET SCORED ON BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS HAVE THE PUCK! THAT'S WHY THOSE DIMWITS ARE ALWAYS OUT THERE WITH THE SCORING LINES!! COOPER I'M SORRY!!!" I swear to God I bowed before my television set in the ingenuity behind Cooper's logic to somehow be able to use the two of them effectively. You can't have one of them crippling the other 2 pairings so you put them together and put them out with the possession group.

As for the power play I've given up on it. We know how often Coop schools them and tries to get them to fix it. Given the tactics the Lightning fanbase KNOWS he employs and they still can't even muster a shot on goal, I don't blame him anymore Matt. He's even treated them like children and put them on a shot clock, they STILL don't get it! That's not a coaching issue. The players are freaking idiots, Matt. It would be like saying about a football team, "The offensive line is so bad!! I blame the offensive line coach!" but the line has been the same for essentially 2 years. That argument is warranted against a coach without a track record. But if you want to dig up ancient history to Cooper's track record then let's go ahead. Cooper's AHL power plays were ranked 9th and 2nd in his two seasons with Norfolk and then 12th respectively in his abbreviated season with Syracuse. Cooper is not some idiot who is going out of his league here.

This team is a fringe playoff contender dude to Ben Bishop with several fundamental issues that was carried to the playoffs by St. Louis and Stamkos in 2013 and then the the TKO line in 2014 like Superman. Yzerman has done a hell of a job trying to put together a champion but right now we need turnover. The expression is true: you can't teach stupid.

Mr. Superman no here and the Lightning suck because of it.

His AHL numbers don't matter. Barberio won the Eddie Shore Award as the best AHL defenseman but he can't stay on an NHL roster for longer than a month. I don't doubt Coop's abilities as a coach, I doubt them as an NHL coach. This is an entirely different league and I think we are quick to forget just how close we were to being down 3-1 to Detroit because Babcock was eating Cooper's lunch until Glendening got hurt and Johnson went Super Saiyan.

And as far as his attempts to fix things, you completely ignored half of my previous point. Where is the ACCOUNTABILITY? He babies them with a shot clock? Fine. Players don't fix the issue? Where's the punishment? Where is the accountability? Where is Coop not accepting their mediocrity?

 

[These Are The Days]

Oh and if Stamkos outright says, "We should be more pissed" then clearly there are issues inside the locker room that need to be addressed. Because if the defending Eastern Conference Champions aren't mad by now then that's an issue with complacency and a testament to a lack of accountability held by the players.

 

[These Are The Days]

His AHL numbers don't matter. Barberio won the Eddie Shore Award as the best AHL defenseman but he can't stay on an NHL roster for longer than a month. I don't doubt Coop's abilities as a coach, I doubt them as an NHL coach. This is an entirely different league and I think we are quick to forget just how close we were to being down 3-1 to Detroit because Babcock was eating Cooper's lunch until Glendening got hurt and Johnson went Super Saiyan.

You say AHL numbers don't matter but then you're going to point out personnel between the NHL and AHL? You can't have it both ways, Matt.

Mark Barberio is a very good AHLer and a bad NHLer. There's a reason AHLer's never sniff the big time on a regular basis but can hold jobs for an entire career in the AHL. They are good enough in THEIR league but NOT the NHL. The entire crux of my argument is that Cooper had AHL players that actually knew what the hell they were doing out there and actually gave a damn. Now he's coaching a team full of NHLer's who have to put on a shot clock and be given a pass limit and STILL don't get their first SOG until their 2nd or 3rd power play. Then they go out and half ass it on even strength and we sit here and complain and complain about the lack of effort. And once the game ends? FIRE COOPER!! It's like we've forgotten that we just watched 60 minutes of players feeling sorry for themselves.

And your point about the Red Wings is carrying exactly what I was trying to say. This team is a fundamentally flawed group of players constructed by Steve Yzerman that rode St. Louis to the playoffs one year and then the TKO line the next. Again... Mr. Superman no here and the Lightning are outright embarrassing themselves.

 

[Sky04]

You say AHL numbers don't matter but then you're going to point out personnel between the NHL and AHL? You can't have it both ways, Matt.

Mark Barberio is a very good AHLer and a bad NHLer. There's a reason AHLer's never sniff the big time on a regular basis but can hold jobs for an entire career in the AHL. They are good enough in THEIR league but NOT the NHL. The entire crux of my argument is that Cooper had AHL players that actually knew what the hell they were doing out there and actually gave a damn. Now he's coaching a team full of NHLer's who have to put on a shot clock and be given a pass limit and STILL don't get their first SOG until their 2nd or 3rd power play. Then they go out and half ass it on even strength and we sit here and complain and complain about the lack of effort. And once the game ends? FIRE COOPER!! It's like we've forgotten that we just watched 60 minutes of players feeling sorry for themselves.

And your point about the Red Wings is carrying exactly what I was trying to say. This team is a fundamentally flawed group of players constructed by Steve Yzerman that rode St. Louis to the playoffs one year and then the TKO line the next. Again... Mr. Superman no here and the Lightning are outright embarrassing themselves.

Yeah ok, so the problem is 23 guys who've played hockey all their lives and are full time NHLers and not a coach who's system and tactics have been figured out after being in the big leagues for 2 years?

No. The players are fine and we have an extremely talented roster, problem is the coach can't tap into any of that.

 

[These Are The Days]

And as far as his attempts to fix things, you completely ignored half of my previous point. Where is the ACCOUNTABILITY? He babies them with a shot clock? Fine. Players don't fix the issue? Where's the punishment? Where is the accountability? Where is Coop not accepting their mediocrity?

That's between coach and players. But how is he going to punish them or hold them accountable? By sending out J.T Brown, Erik Condra, Andrej Sustr, Brian Boyle and Paquette on the power play instead? Scratching a guy like Callahan who went 20 games without a goal? Oh brother... that's some John Tortorella **** right there and there's a reason why he can't hold down a job. Our players at the top are the problem here. The same guys who suck at even strength are even worse on a power play. The players have to hold themselves accountable. I'm sure Cooper could make them do suicides down the ice until they puke and how long until they turn on him because of it? I have no answer for this man. If I ever see Coop I'll try to ask him.

I'm just as pissed as you are brother. But I've been watching this team bang its head against a wall since Game 4 of the SCF and I've noticed these issues.

1. We do not win unless Bishop stands on his head
2. Killorn + Callahan + Filppula + Stamkos = disaster
3. Killorn + Callahan + Filppula = 1 goal every 3-5 games if we are lucky
4. Boyle is the only one from our bottom 6 that scores regularly
5. If it weren't for JAM, we would've lost at least another 3 games
6. We have no capable power play QB
7. Tyler Johnson is in a VERY bad place right now
8. We cannot beat a trap scheme because the players do not attack with speed
9. The players are consistently beat for the puck every time it is loose
10. We will have only 1 random line per night that plays with reckless abandon. Who that line is, is about as random as the NHL draft lottery giving the Oilers Connor McDavid.

What options does that leave a coach with? I can't be pissed at Cooper about this anymore. Every time I assess the situation I see a team that needs to be changed and a coach that's tried almost everything he can to get it going with a roster that's been held together by duct tape and super glue.

1. We lost when we tried to win 1-0.
2. We lost when we put Stamkos and Kucherov together.
3. We lost when we had spirited AHLer's populate our roster
4. And we lost the last 2 games because our team does not learn its lesson.

If we were in any other division we would've been in last place by now.

At this point brother I'm just looking at this season as a very sick blessing like getting food poisoning from your own cooking. It teaches you that you didn't cook right. We've had 2 months to look at the blood and guts of our team while Superman (TKO) was been on the shelf. Not surprisingly we're looking at the same team that struggled against Detroit until Johnson went full Goku on their ass.

Superman ain't coming to save us and that's why we keep losing. Yzerman just needs to make some changes. If we cannot win with said changes then I will blame Cooper.

 

[These Are The Days]

Yeah ok, so the problem is 23 guys who've played hockey all their lives and are full time NHLers and not a coach who's system and tactics have been figured out after being in the big leagues for 2 years?

No. The players are fine and we have an extremely talented roster, problem is the coach can't tap into any of that.

Half of that talented roster has been on the injured list for 2/3 of the season. It got to the point of Tampacuse jokes. What is there to tap into? Mike Blunden? Yanni Gourde? The rest of the roster consists of guys like Filp and Killorn who go half a dozen games between goals and Callahan who hadn't scored in a month. I don't call that talented. I call that a bunch of defense first players who don't score much on a team starving for goals.

Now we've lost so much that we legitimately feel sorry for ourselves. So what is a new coach going to do? Motivate them until they feel sorry for themselves again? We saw it with Boucher and then Coop came in. Now it's happening to him. So what do we do? Fire him? You can't fire a coach every time a team goes through this.

I'm gonna stop hi-jacking the thread now but I've given my thoughts on the matter. I'm not ready to see Cooper go yet. I want Yzerman to make some changes before we fire the guy who was behind the bench for our core's success in the minors.

 

[MattM92]

You say AHL numbers don't matter but then you're going to point out personnel between the NHL and AHL? You can't have it both ways, Matt.

Mark Barberio is a very good AHLer and a bad NHLer. There's a reason AHLer's never sniff the big time on a regular basis but can hold jobs for an entire career in the AHL. They are good enough in THEIR league but NOT the NHL. The entire crux of my argument is that Cooper had AHL players that actually knew what the hell they were doing out there and actually gave a damn. Now he's coaching a team full of NHLer's who have to put on a shot clock and be given a pass limit and STILL don't get their first SOG until their 2nd or 3rd power play. Then they go out and half ass it on even strength and we sit here and complain and complain about the lack of effort. And once the game ends? FIRE COOPER!! It's like we've forgotten that we just watched 60 minutes of players feeling sorry for themselves.

And your point about the Red Wings is carrying exactly what I was trying to say. This team is a fundamentally flawed group of players constructed by Steve Yzerman that rode St. Louis to the playoffs one year and then the TKO line the next. Again... Mr. Superman no here and the Lightning are outright embarrassing themselves.

What? I brought up Barberio as an example of AHL success not being indicative of NHL success. You brought up Cooper's AHL PP numbers and I disputed their relevance by showing you an example of AHL excellence that can't crack it in the NHL.

And again, you place all blame on players being lazy or lacking a certain ability to play in the NHL or something. We have many players that have been successful to varying degrees on some very good teams, then suddenly they come here and look inept? You really think that makes sense?

And again, if the coaching staff is trying to instruct players to shoot every 5 seconds and NO ONE is doing it, why are there no repercussions? Why can Filppula hold the puck for 10 seconds and then continue to get his normal shifts game after game? Why can Kucherov pass out of a scoring opportunity and continue to get 18 minutes a game? Yet Drouin tries too hard and makes an error of commission and he gets benched for half a period. That's the issue with Cooper. There is no consistency and no accountability. Culture and consistency start at the top and works it's way down. That's 1) the coaching staff and 2) the leadership group. That's why you try to surround rookies with a good group of players and staff because the culture of the team comes from the top.

 

[Werewolf]

What is wrong with this team? Its all Centers and ex-Centers - that is why there is no shoot first mentality. Killorn, Stamkos, Johnson, Drouin, Vladdy, Boyle, Filppulla, and Paquette all have played Center either in their pre-NHL or NHL careers. Where are the friggin Wingers!?!

 

[Kramerica Industries]

Which reminds me of that wonderful 90-51-13 line from most of the playoff series against Detroit last season. Remember that 90-51-13 line, you guys? I mean, if you properly purged your memories from that, you don't, but I'm not so lucky to be able to forget things like that. That line really existed, and it was about as useless as you can imagine it was.

It's easy to say that concern with Coop just in playoff coaching settings, personally, began in April 2014, in retrospect, but last postseason really confirmed it. Of the four head coaches he was matched up against, he didn't get the better of a single one of them. AV was the closest he got, and at best I give him a push; the Lightning were outplayed in four of the seven games, including the last three. Babcock and Q in particular completely destroyed him. Maybe there's no shame in elite coaches doing better, but the broader point is that we're seeing more cracks in Cooper's armour appearing over time. It's entirely possible I'm someone who puts more blame (and credit, mind you) on coaching than most people, perhaps to the wrong degree. That's fine. It's not like this is quantifiable. When the same issues are plaguing the team game after game, though, it tells me that either the instruction isn't working, the tactics aren't working, or the players aren't listening. Likely, of course, a combination of the three. Whatever the case may be, that's how a team in the weaker conference of the NHL with the paper roster it has is sitting outside the top-8 around the halfway point.

 

[These Are The Days]

What? I brought up Barberio as an example of AHL success not being indicative of NHL success. You brought up Cooper's AHL PP numbers and I disputed their relevance by showing you an example of AHL excellence that can't crack it in the NHL.

And again, you place all blame on players being lazy or lacking a certain ability to play in the NHL or something. We have many players that have been successful to varying degrees on some very good teams, then suddenly they come here and look inept? You really think that makes sense?

And again, if the coaching staff is trying to instruct players to shoot every 5 seconds and NO ONE is doing it, why are there no repercussions? Why can Filppula hold the puck for 10 seconds and then continue to get his normal shifts game after game? Why can Kucherov pass out of a scoring opportunity and continue to get 18 minutes a game? Yet Drouin tries too hard and makes an error of commission and he gets benched for half a period. That's the issue with Cooper. There is no consistency and no accountability. Culture and consistency start at the top and works it's way down. That's 1) the coaching staff and 2) the leadership group. That's why you try to surround rookies with a good group of players and staff because the culture of the team comes from the top.

What is left for Cooper to do, Matt? What would you have of him? How the hell is he going to punish the power play? Put out the grinders and say, "THAT'LL SHOW EM FOR NEVER SHOOTING!!" Again, if you go out of your way to punish your forwards "Torts style" you're gonna lose the locker room and you're gonna lose a lot of games. He didn't just suddenly poison the locker room with a lack of accountability. This is where the criticism of Stamkos comes in. The guy is either distracted or he just sucks. The captain is supposed to be the one lighting a fire on everyone's ass. But instead we get an article saying, "We need to be more pissed"

You mean to tell me you guys AREN'T pissed yet? That's a PLAYER issue! Again, what is a coach supposed to do about a PLAYER issue when the entire locker room is crying like a bunch of sad sacks? These are grown men. They DO NOT need a baby sitter. If I miss work do I blame my alarm clock? No, it's my own damn fault I stayed up past new years night and overslept. Then my boss/coworker chews my ass out.

10 of our 14 regular forwards were drafted/developed in the Yzerman era with the exception of Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn. The guys who are struggling the most are doing so on the only team they've ever known and any outsiders with varying success are doing little to help out.

1 Stamkos - having another WTF season
2 Drouin - can't stay healthy
3 Johnson - can't stay healthy
4 Palat - can't stay healthy
5 Kucherov - only guy scoring
6 Brown - helping about once every 5-10 games
7 Paquette - can't stay healthy
8 Killorn - helping on offense about once every 5 games
9 Namestnikov - helping occasionally on offense
10 Marchessault- where would we be without him?

Break down the defense which consists of most of Yzerman's body of work

Hedman- can't figure out a power play to save his life and is our only even strength threat on defense
Sustr- has never been any good


Garrison - not the problem with us
Stralman - went 3 years with the Rangers without ANY powerplay production at all and was brought in to Robin Hedman's Batman
Coburn - not the problem and wasn't brought in to score
Carle - Please God help us....

Now our outsiders on forward

Condra - a grinder brought in to grind
Boyle - helps sometimes but was a grinder brought in to grind
Filppula - wildly inconsistent and is showing signs that he has peaked a as player
Callahan - went 20 games without a goal

Then there's Bishop who is only thing keeping us alive

Like I said man, this team has so many fundamental flaws in how it was constructed. I'm not trying to say Cooper is coach of the year. I'm just saying the roster he has to work with is more dense than a brick wall and it needs to be fixed. I'm going to believe that to be an issue before wanting to out a coach that has won championships every time he had a capable roster of players. He did it twice in the beer leagues and then again in the AHL to the tune of a 28 game win streak on a hungry team that busted its ass EVERY night. This team DOES NOT bust its ass. It sits on its ass and cries about it and makes excuses for their lack of effort. Then we get to hear about it in the news.

We may not find common ground on much but at the very least we both agree that change is in order.

 

[These Are The Days]

The fact we can barely win a game because our God mode line has been on the shelf the whole season doesn't make Cooper a bad coach. It means your team lost its crutch like when Montreal cant win without Price. Any idiot behind the bench can point to them and say GO!

 

[MattM92]

If Cooper is coaching the players to do something other than what they're doing and they aren't responding to coaching or disciplines, then he has lost the room.

 

[Werewolf]

In all due fairness ... getting outcoached by Babcock and Q is not a bad thing. Best coach of an entire generation and paid like twice as much as the next closest coach...and the other is the coach of what some call a dinasty team. Yeah man that is not really a bad thing. He beat Babcock and who knows what would have happened with a healthy Johnson, Kuch, and Stammer in that series bro.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

I said as much in my post, too, but the "injuries" thing goes both ways. It's the fourth round of the playoffs at that point; the 'Hawks weren't exactly healthy themselves.

 

[Leonardo87]

Although I feel some blame is on the players, it is not all on them. Coop has changed lines that have worked and looked good or started to build chemistry. He needs to let them run. You cannot expect a line to score every single game, it does not work that way. If they score say a goal every 3 games or so, it's not bad at all and you build from there. If our lines our defending well and the PP is scoring then we will win, sadly we lost against Vancouver, Rangers, and Montreal because our 5 on 5 lines have given up too much, and are not scoring unless are on the PP. Stamkos is a -11 now? Damn.

Another reason for some players lacking in goals or points, is some players have gotten reduced PP time and are not scoring goals like they used to because of limited PP mins and on a putrid PP unit that has no shooter or direction. PK has been much better, our PP has gotten better as well, but is more luck if anything, and a couple of 5 on 3's also help fluff up that percentage number. The PP still needs work. Especially need to fix that 2nd unit. When Palat comes back throw him on the 2nd unit, with Drouin, Johnson, Callahan, and a shooting D and it will start scoring. We have enough talent to run close to a 25% PP, if the execution is there.

 

[Leonardo87]

Anyway, I would try these lines...

Drouin/Vladdy - Stamkos - Kucherov
Palat - Flip - Callahan
Killorn - Johnson - Brown
Paquette - Boyle - Condra/JAM

Johnson needs to be on the 3rd line till he finds his game, imo. Then maybe swap him and Flip unless the Pallahan line takes off. That 2nd line has excellent chemistry they know what to expect from the other, and where the other will be. Which is mind boggling to me why Coop separated Flip and Cally. They may not have scored a ton of goals together but they were looking good with Brown and shutting down the opponent. You put Palat there, look out!

 

[MattM92]

Oh look, back to Killorn-Stamkos-Filppula...

 

[Coopers Gum]

Like I said man, this team has so many fundamental flaws in how it was constructed. I'm not trying to say Cooper is coach of the year. I'm just saying the roster he has to work with is more dense than a brick wall and it needs to be fixed. I'm going to believe that to be an issue before wanting to out a coach that has won championships every time he had a capable roster of players. He did it twice in the beer leagues and then again in the AHL to the tune of a 28 game win streak on a hungry team that busted its ass EVERY night. This team DOES NOT bust its ass. It sits on its ass and cries about it and makes excuses for their lack of effort. Then we get to hear about it in the news.

We may not find common ground on much but at the very least we both agree that change is in order.

This is pretty literally the same EXACT team that made the Stanley Cup ****ing Finals last year. Plus Condra, minus Morrow. So how you can say this team is so flaws in it's construction and the roster is more dense than a brick wall is beyond me. We've seen how this team can play. When they play fast, hard, tenacious, with determination and confidence, there isn't a team in the league that can beat us.

The fact of the matter, is that both parties have sucked this year. The coaching, AND the players. It's not one or the other really. It's both. The coach needs to fuel a team to victory, and the players need to find it in themselves.

And to go a little OT, yes, Cooper did get massively outcoached by every single one of his opponents in the playoffs. Michel Therrien bent Cooper over over his knee, and paddled his ass. Michel Therrien! To say the least of the other 3 he faced.

We didn't just get bad overnight. Someone fundamentally changed our gameplan, and it sucks now. This dump and chase, go in grinding, losing battles, isn't Lightning hockey. Possession and speed is this team's bread and butter. Now, we handle the puck like it's a grenade, and as soon as it touches our sticks, we want to fling it off, somewhere, ANYWHERE else. No. That needs to be fixed. It starts with the coaching. And bleeds down to the players. And if the players aren't getting the message, the coaching needs to be better and drive the point home.