PuckUpdate :: The Hockey Blog » Lightning

The Benefits of Benching

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:27:38 +0000

I have to say, and say completely without sarcasm, that I think Tampa does a nice job with their young players.

Victor Hedman was starting to look a little overwhelmed and outmatched on the ice. Coach Rick Tocchet could have yelled at him or coddled him or told him to figure it out. But instead, he benched Hedman for a game and Hedman found the experience helpful.

Hedman noted being in the press box gave him a different perspective on the game. Literally. Because you can see more from above the ice than on it.

Tocchet also sat Steve Stamkos a few times last season, which seemed to give him some perspective on the game.

In general, I think more NHLers could probably use a night off from time to time. I know the last thing a player wants is to be benched, but sometimes even a night away from the ice can make a huge difference in how a player approaches the game. You see the benefits in baseball, where players tend to get more days off due to the grueling MLB schedule.

Sometimes players learn more about the game, and their game, when they’re not actually playing.

Tocchet should consider starting a foundation to remove the stigma of benchings. It doesn’t have to be a punishment. Maybe instead of saying a player is a healthy scratch, we can start saying he’s a mental health scratch. Or maybe just say a scratched player is on a special vacation.

It’s all in how you spin it.

Tocchet and Hitchcock Try to Turn Things Around

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:54:03 +0000

When a GM supports a coach, that’s usually the surest sign the coach is about to be fired.

Down in Tampa, GM Brian Lawton is supporting coach Rick Tocchet, even as the team struggles to find consistency.

One thing that’s forgotten about Tocchet is that he’s a new coach with an inexperienced coching staff. Rookie coaches and rookie players aren’t always the best combination.

Tocchet still might figure things out. And the main thing keeping him in his job is he’s not Barry Melrose. I suspect Tampa ownership loves Tocchet for that alone.

Speaking of struggling teams, things are rough in Columbus. In fact, things are so bad, coach Ken Hitchcock opened up to the team:

According to players, who didn’t want to discuss the meeting publicly, Hitchcock opened up in a way they have not seen, letting down his “coaching” guard and showing them a side that rarely finds its way through all the film study and the harping on playing more competitively.

If I’m a Blue Jacket and Ken Hitchcock is spilling his guts to me, I’m even more freaked out now. I was under the impression Hitchcock wasn’t programmed with feelings.

Obviously, Hitchcock is totally out of coaching bullets. Flipping through his coaching playbook, he probably realized the only things he hadn’t tried were “emotional sharing” and “shooting a player in the leg.”

Of course, the season isn’t over yet.

Also, 30 years ago today, Mike Milbury beat a Ranger fan with a shoe.

I love that story because when you look at what Milbury did as a GM, the shoe thing seems like one of his sanest moments.

Tocchet Benches Everyone

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:06:22 +0000

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?

Some NHL GMs Already Prepared to Surrender

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:59:48 +0000

What a crazy season.

Jeff Gordon says he’s already hearing trade chatter from certain NHL GMs, with many already thinking about giving up their season and trying to dump salary.

What separates NHL GMs from most other sports, is that NHL GMs only seem to think about salary implications after a contract is signed.

Vinny Lecavalier, under attack in Tampa, has to be one of those names being whispered about (despite a strong game last night and despite a no-trade clause). People are surprised by Lecavalier’s struggle; I was surprised by his success.

Carolina will also probably be a fire sale, although the Hurricanes seem to alternate strong/awful seasons with a relatively static line-up.

The fact that there are GMs who have already given up on their season is pretty sad, though. Did no one in management see St. Louis’ miracle run last season?

On the flip side of dumping salary, if the play of the Avs continues to be strong, they’ll probably be buyers before the trade deadline. Terry Frei didn’t realize how good the Avs were until he went to Canada and saw the attention the Avalanche were garnering.

Stamkos Busts the Bust Myth

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:54:50 +0000

Are we too impatient with first-round draft picks?

Maybe.

Even though he finished last season relatively strong, Steve Stamkos was written off as a bust, or at least as someone with the potential to be a huge bust. Now, 10 games into Tampa’s season, Stamkos has nine goals and five assists and looks like a real NHL presence. In fact, Stamkos leads Tampa in goals so far this season.

Vinny Lecavalier says the Lightning are average now, but are close to becoming much better.

There are certainly a lot of nice pieces to work with. It makes you wonder just how much damage Barry Melrose did in his short tenure as coach, if the team is just snapping out of its malaise now.

Maybe the Lightning should see if Alexandre Daigle is available. I wonder if Tampa coach Rick Tocchet could get him going.

Speaking of coaches, Marc Crawford coached his 1,000th game last night. Interestingly, none of Crawford’s 1,000 games has included his starting an NHL-quality goaltender. Look it up.

Over on Bleacher Report, I wrote about how some NHL teams are so deep, no injury seems to be able to stop them.

Blues and Lightning Looking For Earlier Goals

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:06:08 +0000

After the lockout, everyone talked about the new NHL, and how a premium would be placed on offense.

In the new NHL, we were told speed and talent would matter. Players would be free to actually play, and wouldn’t spend entire periods with sticks embedded in their abdomens.

It seems that crazy-sounding idea continues to blossom.

We’re finally in a position where offense matters in the NHL. Teams can still win with defense, but it better be really tight defense.

We’re seeing the importance of offense in the struggle of two teams: the Blues and the Lightning. Both teams are off to tough starts and both of those tough starts are related to their first-period play.

Tampa has just one first period goal this season, but has surrendered nine. St. Louis has just four but has surrendered nine.

The Blues are trying to figure out just where they lost their jump. I’m going to just jump in and tell Blues management the problem: you started the season in Europe. The Wings aren’t feeling it because of their depth. The Blackhawks because of their youth. And the Panthers aren’t feeling it because you can’t break a broken glass.

Of course, the Lightning have no excuse for their struggles. Coach Rick Tocchet is trying to get his team to focus on winning puck battles. And that’s a good start. But he also might look into getting them scoring, too. Maybe that’s phase 2.

Still, while it’s tough for teams like the Blues and the Lightning, it’s nice to see other teams looking to score early into games, rather than just trying to keep the puck away from the other team.

No Lighthouse at the End of the Islanders Tunnel

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:58:46 +0000

The Long Island Press is reporting Charles Wang, owner of the Isles, has walked away from the Lighthouse project, apparently feeling it would never get done.

The project would have resulted in a new arena for the Isles.

One interesting, if completely unconfirmed, wrinkle is Sam Fischler’s assertion during last night’s Rangers game that the Islanders don’t want to leave the metropolitan area and are now looking toward Queens and not Brooklyn, even though Brooklyn will (presumably) one down house an NBA team.

In all likelihood, Wang, who has been very patient in trying to get the Lighthouse project done, is trying to force some hands by pretending he’s fed-up and ready to walk away from everything. Everything I’ve heard or read about Wang seems to indicate he has no desire to leave Long Island unless it’s absolutely necessary.

But there’s no doubt the Islanders are hurting. My sister bought me Islander tickets for a birthday something like five or six years ago. Possibly even longer. Last weekend, the Islanders called her and asked if she’d be interested in buying more tickets. So the Islanders are really working their ticket lists, but if they’re five or six years down the list, they can’t be doing too well.

Of course NHL marketing is a strange thing. The Blues have a campaign “The last piece of the puzzle is you” (you being the fans). Coach Andy Murray doesn’t like it, though, feeling the team is really three or four pieces away – none of them fans and all of them on-ice positions.

Of course, Murray is also rather famous for routinely announcing “We can’t control whether Tinkerbell lives or dies by clapping! It’s a medical fact!”

Also, apparently nothing can stop Martin St. Louis; even aging. He’s 34, which shocked me, and still doesn’t seem to have lost a step. It’s even more remarkable when you consider the wear-and-tear on him given his small size.

Halpern Returns to DC

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:36:13 +0000

Not that he’s horribly objective, but Jeff Halpern expects the Lightning to be much more successful this year.

Tarik El-Bashir caught up with him in DC and it’s interesting to hear Halpern talk about how hard it was for him to leave the Caps. Halpern also talks about the pressures of being in a contract year.

Speaking of Dallas, Mike Heika doesn’t believe the Stars will trade Brad Richards to the Rangers for Brandon Dubinsky, Michael Rozsival, and a prospect. Richards and Rozsival are interesting in that they’re both fine players who are just absurdly overpaid. The Richards-to-the-Rangers rumblings continue because of Richards’ reputation as a Tortorella guy. Truthfully, if the Rangers are intent on adding a Tortorella pet, I think they’d be better off trying to get Martin St. Louis out of Tampa.

Also, Chris Zupke had a funny, short post on how much trouble NHLers seem to get into during the off-season. Although, I do like that Patrick Kane’s TaxiGate got LeBron James to talk about the NHL. And I’m sure James loved the chance to not talk about his expiring contract.

Sedins: ‘We Are the Cap’

Steven Ovadia — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:00:55 +0000

Tim Panaccio says the Sedin twins are supposedly looking for $7 million each per season.

I don’t begrudge anyone their money, but what team can afford $14 million for two players?

Someone needs to explain the salary cap system to the twins. Unless they’re no longer that into playing with each other. Maybe that’s the whole point of the salary quote.

Also, if the Sabres don’t make the playoffs, Bucky Gleason reports GM Darcy Regier and coach Lindy Ruff will still keep their jobs. Gleason is OK with that since ownership is the reason the team has struggled this season. Also, Ruff has been coaching in Buffalo since the 1920s.

Over in Tampa, while there’s still a lot of work to do, Rick Tocchet and his staff are at least working on teaching accountability. I’m constantly amazed by how quickly the Lightning regressed from Stanley Cup-winner into apathy.

Out in Minnesota, the Wild’s Andrew Brunette seems to have been playing on a partially torn ACL. How tough is he?

Finally, my fantasy column is up on RotoRob.

Stevens Bakes; Carbonneau Cans? Or Just Canned?

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:10:17 +0000

Two fun facts to start today:

The Blues have one first period goal in their last 11 games. But they’re also 7-3-1 during that stretch, so maybe that’s working for them.
Flyers coach John Stevens enjoys baking. I had him pegged as a griller, not a baker.

The baking thing comes up in Anthony J. SanFilippo’s column on chemistry in the Flyers locker room — chemistry that was hurt by the Flyers trade deadline moves. It was an especially frustrating deadline for the players because they lost some good guys and good players in order to lower their cap.

And wow. Guy Carbonneau getting fired in Montreal. My first thought was that Carbonneau would go right back to Dallas, where he was once the heir-apparent GM, but Mike Heika doesn’t see a role for him. Unless Dallas goes with three GMs. Two has worked pretty well for them.

Also, I love how the Lightning players have to go hand-deliver season tickets and renewal forms. It’s like penance. I think it would be great if they could somehow broadcast the visits. I would love to hear them getting an earful from the fans.

Both of them.