Lightning HC Cooper taps the brakes on Cup contender talk
After a first-round exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman did some retooling this offseason by acquiring defenseman Jason Garrison in a trade and signing defenseman Anton Stralman, goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, and forwards Brian Boyle and Brenden Morrow as free agents.
Further to that, the club signed forward Ryan Callahan and goalie Ben Bishop to multi-year extensions, and with the impending addition of top prospect Jonathan Drouin (and, ideally, a full season from superstar / captain Steven Stamkos), expectations are sky high for the Lightning heading into 2014-15, to the point where some are pumping Tampa Bay tires as Cup contenders.
For his part, head coach Jon Cooper downplays the hype, telling NHL.com he is taking a decidedly more 'one step at a time' kind of approach.
All of a sudden you tweak your lineup a little bit and people are expecting the world out of your team. It's funny how that works. Because it was just 12 months ago we were looked at as a bottom-feeder in the League. Now I want to see how much we've grown from our playoff experience and through this summer. I'm really excited to see if this team can take another step.
The one thing we're looking for is, can we be a better hockey team than we were last year? I don't think how many points you get in the regular season is a judge of that. We'll know if we're a better hockey team if we have an opportunity to make the playoffs.
If we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs, can we go farther than we did last year? I think we've got a group that really wants to try to take the next step. That's what we're looking for.
Cooper further admits that much of the team's success in 2013-14 "may have been masked by some outstanding goaltending by Bishop," and that the playoff loss to the Montreal Canadiens - in which they were forced to play without an injured Bishop - "was a bit of a wake-up call."
While he believes Yzerman's moves have gone a long way towards balancing out the roster, Cooper has one simple request as a new season approaches: "All I ask is don't blow us up to be something we're not. That's the one thing I don't want people to do."
It's a nice, humble approach, but qualifying for the postseason should be a given for the Lightning next season.