These Are The Days
Oh no! We suck again!!
I'll start off by saying I hope this thread wasn't already done and if I missed it my bad guys.Before making my prediction I'd like to say a few things. I think it's safe to say this: "The Lightning are going to be good this year". But I must admit HOW good is going to come down to our goaltending as usual. We go as Ben goes. If he goes on and has a crazy great year and wins the Vezina don't be surprised if we win over 50 games. If he and Nabokov stink up the joint we'll be lucky to win 35 games. I personally think we are another year away (this year) from being a true contender in the East. However, given the changes Steve Yzerman has made like trading Purcell and Crombeen, acquiring like half the NYR roster and their experience of a Stanley Cup Finals from last year, acquiring Nabokov and all but clearing the way so our prospects like Connolly, Drouin and Kucherov all have a spot waiting for them, I'd say that HE thinks our time is now. And I haven't even gotten to our X factor yet.
I'm cautiously VERY optimistic about what this team can do because of our X factor: our coach. Jon Cooper has proven time and again as a coach that when he has a talented team in front of him, he gets the best out of those players and wins CHAMPIONSHIPS. He did it with the Green Bay Gamblers, he did with the Norfolk Admirals and Steve Almighty has set the table for him to win. The man knows what it takes to win championships. So onward!
I think the Lightning will go 48-24-10 for 106 points in the standings and make it to at least the 2nd round of the playoffs.
PS (and no you guys don't have to read this, it's just something I feel very strongly about)- Funny little note about me as a fan. When Yzerman was hired I flipped out in excitement. We got the guy who worked with Ken Holland and I KNEW he was going to be good. But when he hired Boucher I always had this uneasy feeling... that Guy wasn't going to work out. I wasn't so sure about it. The honeymoon ended when he said, "We are starting over" the year after we went to Game 7 of the ECF. Then the uneasy came back. I never felt that way about Cooper. When he was down there in Norfolk tearing it up with 20 wins in a row, 21 wins in a row, 22 wins in a row I said to myself, "Man it sucks we have Boucher up here now preaching structure and discipline. Some team is going to snatch this Cooper guy up and win BIG with him. Just look at him... he's ALWAYS the same! He's like the happiest guy in the world. Does he even get in a bad mood? I wish Jon was up here now" I thought I wanted Lindy Ruff when he was fired and I was experiencing a momentary lapse of judgment. But when we hired Cooper I changed my tune in about 5 minutes. I mean it's not like he didn't already coach half our team in the minors anyway!! And HE won championships with those players. Not Lindy Ruff. I have NEVER once thought to myself we don't have the right guy for the job.
Guys I REALLY think we have the makings of something great here. The day Vinik took over he wanted a "World Class" sports club and I'll be damned if we don't have that right now. I truly think last year was the dawn of a golden era of Lightning hockey and this year will be our affirmation.
I'm cautiously VERY optimistic about what this team can do because of our X factor: our coach. Jon Cooper has proven time and again as a coach that when he has a talented team in front of him, he gets the best out of those players and wins CHAMPIONSHIPS. He did it with the Green Bay Gamblers, he did with the Norfolk Admirals and Steve Almighty has set the table for him to win. The man knows what it takes to win championships. So onward!
I think the Lightning will go 48-24-10 for 106 points in the standings and make it to at least the 2nd round of the playoffs.
PS (and no you guys don't have to read this, it's just something I feel very strongly about)- Funny little note about me as a fan. When Yzerman was hired I flipped out in excitement. We got the guy who worked with Ken Holland and I KNEW he was going to be good. But when he hired Boucher I always had this uneasy feeling... that Guy wasn't going to work out. I wasn't so sure about it. The honeymoon ended when he said, "We are starting over" the year after we went to Game 7 of the ECF. Then the uneasy came back. I never felt that way about Cooper. When he was down there in Norfolk tearing it up with 20 wins in a row, 21 wins in a row, 22 wins in a row I said to myself, "Man it sucks we have Boucher up here now preaching structure and discipline. Some team is going to snatch this Cooper guy up and win BIG with him. Just look at him... he's ALWAYS the same! He's like the happiest guy in the world. Does he even get in a bad mood? I wish Jon was up here now" I thought I wanted Lindy Ruff when he was fired and I was experiencing a momentary lapse of judgment. But when we hired Cooper I changed my tune in about 5 minutes. I mean it's not like he didn't already coach half our team in the minors anyway!! And HE won championships with those players. Not Lindy Ruff. I have NEVER once thought to myself we don't have the right guy for the job.
Guys I REALLY think we have the makings of something great here. The day Vinik took over he wanted a "World Class" sports club and I'll be damned if we don't have that right now. I truly think last year was the dawn of a golden era of Lightning hockey and this year will be our affirmation.
