By Mark Pukalo
Jon Cooper is right. The
Tampa Bay Lightning can’t win every game 6-5.
However, the Bolts can’t win
every game 1-0 or 2-1 either – especially with the state of the team’s defense
at this moment.
The Lightning have been more
sloppy in the defensive zone than usual in the past five games. I’m not sure
cheating and over-committing are the only reasons why. While the forwards
deserve some blame at times, this corps of blue liners has never been quite
good enough from the start of the season – even back to 2014-15. For much of
this season, goalie Ben Bishop has covered that up.
While Victor Hedman and
Anton Stralman give Tampa Bay a terrific top pair, the bottom – as a group – four
or five stand in the lower third of the league in my opinion. Braydon Coburn, an
unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, is capable as a No. 4-5 and
Jason Garrison’s absence as a No. 3 has proved to leave a huge hole. Andrej
Sustr has played a little better, but is still wildly inconsistent. Nikita
Nesterov is exposed when he plays more than eight minutes. Matt Carle? Well,
you know.
Bishop and Andrei
Vasilevskiy have had to be heroic at times to hide the deficiencies while Hedman and Stralman ocassionally try to do too much, leading to mistakes.
Cooper has often played two checking lines, perhaps to help the defense, but it
has ultimately made it tougher because the Lightning have too often managed two
goals or fewer.
You may argue that the
Lightning produced 34.8 shots per game in their four losses during the current
slide, but the chances seem to come in bunches and then there are periods of
time where there is nothing happening. I think I’d rather go for the 6-5 win than
the 1-0 or 2-1 right now.
GM Steve Yzerman has got to
make a move. Former first-round pick defenseman Slater Koekkoek is here and he
looked fine Tuesday. It’s time to cut him loose and let him play more. Heck,
I’d bring Matt Taormina up and play him instead of Nesterov or Carle until a
blue liner can be acquired (or Garrison comes back early). There’s got to be
someone out there that can be picked up as a stopgap. They could also make a
bold move to get a player like Dan Hamhuis or pull the trigger on a Jonathan
Drouin trade for a D man. If cap room is required, put Carle or Erik Condra on
waivers.
It’s not panic time. But it
is time for action by Yzerman, and a slightly different philosophy from Cooper.
The Lightning was never a
defensive team, where the most important thing is “how many we keep out.”
Their stats early in the season were deceiving. This is a team with plenty of
good offensive players who are often stifled by the lines they skate on. Cedric
Paquette plays too much. Brian Boyle doesn’t play enough. There’s no way
Jonathan Marchessault should be behind Paquette and Condra. If he wasn’t good
enough defensively, why did Cooper stick him in the lineup against the New York
Rangers in the playoffs? Marchessault shoots the puck. He adds spirit to a
lineup with Drouin in exile. He’s got to play.
I bought a Drouin shirt
during the offseason at a mall in Tampa. I kid you not, it came out of the wash
a few weeks ago with a new stain on it.
His decision to walk away
from the team disappointed me. It was a decision that had very few positives
for him, but he still did it. I can’t defend him on that. Someday, maybe soon,
he will emerge from the abyss and restart his career. That stain will be
removed when he begins to show his skills with a coach that allows him to grow while
playing through mistakes. The thing is, even after all this time, if Drouin
decided to come back to the Lightning and made a public apology to the fans it
would only take a goal or two and a burst of speed for him to be forgiven.
But, come on folks, the kid
did not commit a crime or even get accused of some heinous act. Some radio
hosts are treating him like he did, though, while gushing over a certain
quarterback in this town. It makes me sick. Drouin let his pride and impatience
get in the way. He’s 21. I still can’t wait to see him play again, wherever
that is.
(Sorry, had to get that in.
Hope the bozo on that 10-noon show on WDAE sees it.)
So what can they get for
Drouin? It’s hard to say. One of two things is probably going on. Yzerman is
either trying to work a bigger, more complicated deal, or the best offers are
for futures and he’d like at least one player he can slide onto the current
roster – ideally on the right side of the defense.
I can’t imagine Ottawa
giving up Cody Ceci after it solidified its top four on defense with the Dion
Phaneuf deal. The Kevin Shattenkirk possibility in a bigger deal is probably
more of an offseason project -- if at all. Minnesota suffered some injuries on defense
when Matt Dumba’s name popped up. Drouin would certainly fit in Colorado, but
what can the Avalanche send back in return? They are already weak on defense,
so how could they trade a young D? Not sure Nashville has anything available
the Lightning would want. Winnipeg? To Dallas for Valeri Nichushkin, as one
local reporter guessed Tuesday? It would be interesting to try and get a guy
like Mika Zibanejad from Ottawa to insert as a gritty third-line center or
wing.
Dumba, a right-handed blue
liner with bite and offensive ability, is someone I would like the Bolts to go
after. He has yet to emerge as a sure thing yet, but the 21-year-old is
improving and seems to have all the tools. No doubt Minnesota knows that, too,
though. We’ll see.
The next 12 days before the
trade deadline are going to be very important for now and the future. But I
don’t think Yzerman can wait that long to address some issues. If he doesn’t
act soon, there may not be a postseason in Tampa Bay.
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