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Jon Cooper is leaning again in a chair on the desk in his workplace at Amalie Enviornment. It’s Saturday, and out on the ice, the Islanders are ending up their morning skate forward of a recreation they'll lose, 5-3, to the Lightning. In right here, Cooper, the Tampa Bay coach, is explaining the artwork of bouncing again.
“There’s good storms in successful,” Cooper advised Submit Sports activities+. “And there’s additionally good storms in dropping.”
The room is full of recollections and memorabilia, however the two footage to Cooper’s proper, of him celebrating two Stanley Cup victories, stand out. Cooper has coached the Lightning since 2013-14, and he reached the mountaintop with back-to-back Cup wins in 2020 and 2021, dropping within the ultimate final 12 months and in 2015. However that didn’t come with out moments of doubt alongside the way in which. The Lightning missed the playoffs within the 2016-17 season, after having reached the Cup Remaining and the convention finals within the two seasons prior. That disappointment, and the restoration from it, is what we’re right here to speak about, as a result of it’s the place Cooper sees a parallel between his crew and the Islanders.
That 12 months in Tampa, Steven Stamkos suffered a season-ending damage after simply 17 video games. Goaltender Ben Bishop didn’t play in any respect. Thirty-three gamers performed 10 or extra video games.
Final 12 months on Lengthy Island, the Isles didn’t play a house recreation till Nov. 20. Then they suffered a COVID-19 outbreak, sidelining a lot of their lineup for an additional two weeks. It will take till the New Yr earlier than their lineup was fully wholesome.
The Lightning missed the playoffs by a degree in 2017, the Islanders by rather more than that.
“They’ve been to 2 convention finals in a row ready to get again and the right storm went towards them, similar to it did in 2016-17 for us,” Cooper mentioned. “After which we ended up shifting a bunch of gamers and we kinda reset our crew, after which we took off once more.”
That’s why this comparability is imperfect. Although the Lightning continued to construct round a core that included Stamkos, Brayden Level, Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn and Andrei Vasilevskiy — gamers who're nonetheless there — additionally they added Yanni Gourde, Ryan Callahan, Ryan McDonagh and Anthony Cirelli, to call just a few gamers, earlier than or in the course of the 2017-18 season. The Islanders didn’t add a single participant to their high 12 forwards this previous offseason, and bought solely Alexander Romanov to assist on the again finish.
In that sense, the higher Tampa Bay parallel is to 2019, after the Lightning have been shockingly swept out of the primary spherical of the playoffs by Columbus and determined to maintain their core collectively. That dialog between Cooper and basic supervisor Julien BriseBois did occur, because it certainly did between Islanders coach Lane Lambert and GM Lou Lamoriello. Nevertheless it resulted in the identical place.
“I feel that trickles down out of your management,” Cooper mentioned. “So it's worthwhile to have a gaggle that they gotta imagine in one another. Management kicks in, guys who've been there. The Islanders have lots of these guys. They saved the crew collectively. That they had perception within the crew. I feel the final supervisor and the coach had perception within the crew, and I feel if you happen to don’t have that, then you definitely don’t have something. To me, that’s what the Islanders have.”
Following that second disappointment in 2019, Cooper seemed inward to ship the change that was wanted. He felt there wanted to be the next diploma of accountability, for himself and gamers, and that he had begun to let issues slide throughout a 62-win common season the 12 months prior. He began benching gamers extra readily, as Lambert has in sitting Josh Bailey in Tampa and Anthony Beauvillier in Florida this previous weekend.
“What do gamers covet probably the most?” Cooper mentioned. “On a private degree, they covet ice time. In the long run, that’s what they covet. Take it away from them and it may change — it in all probability doesn’t change all of the gamers, however it may change some gamers. And that’s in all probability one of many greatest issues that you simply maintain guys accountable.”
Throughout a visit to Sweden early the subsequent season, Cooper began to really feel like issues have been totally different. The Lightning received twice towards a sizzling Sabres crew, and he felt they might win bodily, with velocity and with talent. On the commerce deadline, they added Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow, bolstering their high six in a means that may drastically repay.
The Islanders haven't had that second but this season, and it’s not clear that they'll. However the blueprint is there, and so is the assumption. Even with a sluggish 3-5 begin to the season that improved barely after Wednesday’s 3-0 win over the Rangers, it's all in entrance of them.
“The perfect factor we did was we didn't blow the crew up,” Cooper mentioned. “We knew inside, we needed to change some issues mentally in our recreation, in how we strategy the sport, easy methods to shut out video games, and by dropping in a horrific, crushing means, it ended up delivering that.”
He factors to his proper.
5 hits from Islanders 3, Rangers 0
1. The most recent model of the primary line, with Mathew Barzal centering Oliver Wahlstrom and Josh Bailey, had a profitable night time, with a 71.43 shot try share, per Pure Stat Trick, and Bailey getting his first objective of the 12 months. Wahlstrom subsequent to Barzal specifically was deemed promising by Lambert, who mentioned “it seemed like there was just a little little bit of one thing there.”
2. Wednesday night time would have been Bailey’s 1,000th profession recreation had he not sat on Saturday in Tampa. It’s a little bit of a bummer that it wasn’t: It will have been a terrific second for him to attain at house towards the Rangers as he hit a significant milestone of enjoying 1,000 profession video games all with the identical group — one thing that doesn’t occur typically within the salary-cap period. In fact, it’s not Lambert’s job to contemplate that in his lineup choices, however it's too dangerous Bailey will hit that mark on the street towards Carolina as an alternative of on Lengthy Island.
3. A cool 9 hits for Cal Clutterbuck and one other night time when the Identification Line seemed good. Via seven video games, it’s been the perfect ahead line for the Islanders, although that designation is influenced by Lambert having modified up the highest 9 an excellent quantity.
4. 5 pictures on web for Anthony Beauvillier following a wholesome scratch in Florida. After a sluggish first interval, Beauvillier performed with power and velocity, the way in which Lambert needs him to, and it made an influence.
5. The Islanders’ energy play didn’t rating in three tries, however had stretches when it moved the puck crisply. The second unit specifically — with Ryan Pulock on the level — seemed much better than it did over the weekend.
A weird finish to the roster logjam
The information Wednesday that the Islanders waived Kieffer Bellows was simple to see coming in two methods:
1. He was the one roster ahead to not play both weekend recreation in Florida, with Nikita Soshnikov and Ross Johnston each getting an opportunity.
2. It was not tenable for the Islanders to proceed with simply six defensemen on their roster, a state of affairs that invitations bother, for a three-game street journey throughout the Midwest subsequent week.
Nonetheless, seeing Bellows, who was signed to a one-year, $1.2 million extension this previous summer season, hit waivers having solely skated in a single recreation this season, was not the state of affairs we might have predicted following coaching camp — the place Bellows outplayed not solely Johnston and Soshnikov, but in addition Wahlstrom. Lambert refused to present a lot of an evidence for why Bellows wasn’t enjoying, so it’s not clear why the Islanders seen the 24-year-old energy ahead as expendable past his apparent lack of manufacturing (11 targets, 14 assists) over 68 profession video games with the membership.
That will be an satisfactory rationalization if it didn't additionally apply to Johnston, whose recreation largely limits him to the underside six, or Soshnikov, who earlier than this season had not performed within the NHL since Nov. 2018.
Getting Bellows’ wage off the books clears more room than both of these choices, however not by a lot (Johnston is ticketed at a $1.1 million AAV). And although we received’t know whether or not he has cleared waivers till Thursday afternoon, it's laborious to see how Bellows was not the most probably of these three gamers to be claimed if placed on waivers. He's the youngest, he's beneath crew management subsequent summer season (not like Soshnikov) and his deal doesn't signify a long-term dedication (not like Johnston’s).
Maybe Bellows will clear waivers, rendering this dialogue moot. However it's definitely a danger that he received’t, making this can be a laborious transfer to make sense of.
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