Tocchet Benches Everyone
Some interesting coaching from Tampa Bay’s Rick Tocchet last night.
Despite a strong-if-ultimately-ineffective game from Vinny Lecavalier, Tocchet wound up benching his top two lines for most of the third.
Tocchet was probably upset that the Caps have pretty much owned Tampa Bay since 2007. He also couldn’t have been happy about his team dropping five of their last six.
Tocchet is obviously trying to send a message to his stars. The concern is that he can’t bench them forever. And his top two lines probably realize that, too. So do they take away a lesson from the benching, or do they begin the now patented Tampa Bay Lightning move of ignoring their coach?
Which brings us around to the patented Tampa Bay Lightning question of if the team would consider moving Lecavalier. Rick Carpiniello says any rumors you’ve heard about that are pure speculation.
The thing that makes me wonder if Tampa would move Lecavalier is that he was lumped into the mass benching despite playing a tough game. Has Tocchet burned out on his star? Has the organization? Is everyone ready for a change?
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