Complacency kills

Absolute urban legend in statement .. " best roster in league.. " .. they dont as I have been painfully pointing out .. Newsflash to Disneylanders and all the hockey "experts" who dont watch the games .. combine over rated "talent" with a crappy coach .. they .500 team

Yup

They have two top 20 C's in the league, a ton of top 6 wingers, guys like Palat Johnson Gourde Killorn Joseph Cirelli, an absolutely insane top 4, and a good goalie, it's not talent this team is lacking, it's the culture and/or coach that this team needs... Most teams would kill to have the depth or star power this team has

Jeesh... have u actually watched the 5 games? ..

As I said, no, I'm not a bolts fan, just a guy on the internet that is surprised that they lost to Ottawa

Want some cheese with that whine?

They are a decent roster and defiently top 10 but looks like a coach/culture problem to me. Look at the sabres they are not a "better" team but the coaching staff has turned the culture around. I think Tampa needs to do what Colorado did, Trade Stamkos(Duchene) and give the #2 center point(MacKinnon) the reins and get a good return back. Might help, Stamkos has been there for a while and hasn't got them where they should be. Give McDonough or Hedman captain and just go with it.

i am die

It is definitely a coaching/culture problem more than talent. It's the same problem we've seen for a few years now. Tampa wants to make the extra flashy pass and it kills them. No adjustments that are effective are made against heavy and/or trapping teams and the league knows the blueprint on how to beat this Cooper led team. The big guns were awful today(Stamkos and Kucherov mainly, Kuch has been awful and lazy aside from the Toronto game). It seems as though many of the players just don't care much about these reg season games, especially after what happened last year. Ultimately, over the past 5 years, there have been new players and several changes in assistant coaches, and no Cup. The only constant has been the gum chewer, and he hasn't been the coach they have needed in the playoffs. Now perhaps some of the players are starting to show their displeasure with the situation with both comments and their play. It's still very early but there are some concerning signs already.

Guys just chill, look at Nashville freaking BEST D-core Predators and who they lost to. Detroit freakin' rebuilding Red Wings and Los going for Lafreniere Angeles bunch of 35 years olds Kings. 6.0 GAA in those 2 games...
It's the NHL, there are no easy games here. Last year was unrepeatable, we all knew, and was also pointless... Colorado made it to the playoffs with 38 wins, great right? Who went further in the playoffs?
So did it matter that we won 62 games? Around 45 will be enough based on my calculations +-2. Can Tampa win 45 games, if not... that's life...

Cooper is just testing things, no need to overreact.
Our focus this year = defense. And taking less penalties. It failed miserably so far, but that's ok. (Toronto game doesn't matter, we are unstoppable vs soft teams with our speed + skillz)

Forget about last year's historic run. It's a completely new season. We are playing bad hockey. But it's just a testing phase.
For us, this regular season is kinda like preseason 2.0 for a long while... At least the first 10-40 games.
Remember how much regular season results impacts playoffs? We learned our lesson, and don't push in the regular season anymore, when it's not needed.

We also need to prepare for injuries, so any chemistry will be useful come playoffs time.
Yes, you can say that if we play bad hockey with non optimized lineups, then we might miss the playoffs, but we are above the field so much in depth and skill & speed, that in the long run it's almost impossible that we go 0-4 vs teams like ottawa or Montreal,Detroit,NYR,Devils,CBJ,Flo etc... in reg season, which would result indeed that we would miss the playoffs.
Average result vs those teams should be 3-1 even with unoptimized lineups. If not, and things are looking really bad at january. We can go for a long push. Or not, if it's not needed and wait until feb-march.

The only goal for us is to prepare for playoffs, and make it to the Stanley-cup finals, or at least conference finals. Any other result doesn't matter, including reg season and 1st or 2nd round exits. Those will be considered huge disappointments. Let's say we play 1st round... we win... then we rip in 2nd run vs ...
Cooper's job won't be that stable anymore... So he tries his very best this year, that our chance in the playoffs will be maximized. We need shutdown lines and super good defense with depth, and multiple working D pairs. One Hedman injury and we look like an AHL team vs CBJ = not acceptable, even if Hedman is a beast.

Fingers crossed this strategy will work, with an added trade deadline RH D player or a physical forward. Our goalies are set. Our goals are set. Now it's preparation & execution. It's a copycat league. We are now officially copying Boston, Colorado etc... with an insane 1st line... idk 300 points... looks like those lines don't fail in the playoffs... they are just too good = impossible to shutdown. At least we will have options, if things not working, so 2nd-3rd line doesn't matter, if the 1st line wins you the game... If 1st line fails, going back to balanced lines, if that means we will win a playoff game vs a random team. It's all about chemistry + options.

Let's see today vs Montreal if anything changes after the loss vs Ottawa... Maybe we win today... maybe...(even with bad lines)... if not that's also ok... it's all about the long run. I prepared for any reg season game loss now. I just can't prepare myself for another bad plaoyoff run. If we lose, at least lose 2-4, or 3-4... that's hard to swallow, but at least we had the chance in game 6 or 7. Going 0-4 is unacceptable anymore...( except Nashville in finals, but that's ok, maybe : predators won't be there, if we get lucky)

TLDR: Don't be concerned with lines, it's all about testing. Results doesn't matter. All we need is chemistry + consistency " FOR PLAYOFFS".

Alright, now it's gametime...


Let's go !