The Macho King
Back* to Back** World Champion
- Jun 22, 2011
- 49,101
- 30,048
Moneybags over here linking The Athletic.
Especially after three years of frustrating playoff exits. How the f*** are they not motivated and ready and take two periods to get into the game?Cooper getting fired is/would be a silver lining to us losing to Boston. The whole "we came out flat" remark by Johnson really has me irritated. It's what happens after years and years of a clearly laissez-faire coaching style where Cooper relies on the players to motivate themselves and police themselves. Like... I get it but I'm always left wondering much longer this is gonna work out.
The fact we are back to struggling with motivation again like it's 2015 scares the hell out of me.
Especially after three years of frustrating playoff exits. How the f*** are they not motivated and ready and take two periods to get into the game?
I'm conflicted on how to answer that. I believe players need to hold each other accountable and coaches shouldn't have to be full-time shrinks. It's why I rarely get mad when I don't see Cooper do the "rah rah rah!" on the bench. After all it was a speech by Shattenkirk that moved the room when we were down by 2 vs CBJ. A coach can give the same speech so many times. A player is different. But before a game coaches DO need to feel the pulse of a locker and act accordingly. I'm not so sure Cooper even does that.
There's a very big gray area in how hands on a coach needs to be and I think our locker room has changed too much since the Cup run that Cooper's approach is still working anymore.
Ultimately, I'm ready for a change
I haven't done the analysis, but our game 1 record feels atrocious under Cooper. Feels like we're always playing from behind.
We're 5-9 in series openers under Cooper. Even worse, most of those series openers have been at home. Excluding this year because home isn't really "home", we're 2-7 in series opening games when we've had home-ice advantage. Even worse, the two wins came against the two weakest playoff teams we've faced over the years - 2016 Red Wings and 2018 Devils. So, when we've faced any teams tougher than that, and any time we've had home-ice beyond the first round of the playoffs, we've lost the first game. That's laughably awful. Constantly behind the 8-ball. Then you wonder why this team hasn't won anything of substance.
Tampa is also 2nd (after Pens) in playoff wins under Cooper. And 2nd (after Vegas) in points percentage. Which means Cooper is probably the best coach in the league in playoffs. NHL.com Stats
I'm sorry but I just don't understand this point at all. Like, question the coaching decisions and the on-ice product if you will, but from my point of view Coop seems like a genuinely good-natured guy, with a sense of humor and no real ego - exactly the kind of person I typically like.topped off with a personality that doesn't loan itself to likability amongst the fanbase.
You guys know that its ridiculously hard to win back to back titles, let alone win every year, right? The end goal is a championship but theres a lot of shade for the guy who is quite easily the winningest coach in our history. Not always thrilled with the choices he makes on some nights, but this belief that there is a pile of individuals that are better just sitting around waiting is silly.
I'm sorry but I just don't understand this point at all. Like, question the coaching decisions and the on-ice product if you will, but from my point of view Coop seems like a genuinely good-natured guy, with a sense of humor and no real ego - exactly the kind of person I typically like.
Also, are we going to give Cooper any credit for the successful switching of Kucherov to the left wing on the PP or is that a bridge too far for the anti-Cooper crowd here?
Okay, I get all that. I guess I read "likability" as if there's some kind of personality issue with Cooper when I don't think that's the case at all.It's more a case of Cooper gets far more criticism than praise for 2 reasons.
1. He is inextricably linked to our playoff failures. Our guys are on the bench sulking and he's just standing there like a cow chewing cud. We get shutout and all he has to say is "Bounces didn't go our way boys. We'll get em next year" this has happened no less than 4 times. That's why I said his personality doesn't endear well to his popularity here. You could be forgiven for thinking he doesn't care.
2. He's gone deep 3 times. After making the SCF and ECF in back to back years the praise all but completely dried up because the only thing left for him was to win a Cup. And we always, always had great teams. By the time Brayden Point was a rookie we reached such a standard that anything short of a Stanley Cup might as well have been praising an operator for answering the phone and doing their job. -God is that even a thing anymore? Anyway back on topic
So more often than not you're gonna hear Cooper getting A LOT of criticism at a very disproportionate rate.
If we do win the Cup I doubt it helps his reputation but he will at least be called our most successful coach without argument. Odds are 2:1 we will then see a chicken or the egg debate on whether someone else would've done better and if our stacked lineups didn't make Cooper look better than he was
I'm sorry but I just don't understand this point at all. Like, question the coaching decisions and the on-ice product if you will, but from my point of view Coop seems like a genuinely good-natured guy, with a sense of humor and no real ego - exactly the kind of person I typically like.
Also, are we going to give Cooper any credit for the successful switching of Kucherov to the left wing on the PP or is that a bridge too far for the anti-Cooper crowd here?
No, I don't want him to scream but I WOULD like to see some modicum of emotionPeople want him to scream, basically. I think Cooper has earned a lot of the criticism he gets, but this one doesn't make sense to me.