John Gove: Questions & Concerns Still Remain Involving Tampa's Defense

We have 3 reliable defensemen. Hedman, Stralman and Coburn is a solid 3rd line. The other 5 are complete wild cards for me.
- Is Serg and Koekkoek ready?
- Does Dotchin need a (Hedman) babysitter?
- Girardi is getting top 4 minutes. Does he have anything left?
- Was Garrison to blame for Sustr last year? (No, but I'm grasping at straws)

The pairings are all over the place too! Ask 10 different people and you'll get 10 different opinions on pairings. A lot of flexibility. A lot of competition. Unless your name is Hedman or Stralman you have to fight for playing time which is a good thing. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised come October/November!

Koekkoek is the the odd man out in my opinion. He is the only one signed to a bismal 1 year contract, but is a RFA so he is prime trade bait if needed.
Girardi will hellp out immensly in the development of Dotchin, and Sergachev. Girardi likely to start on 2nd line and is a PK specialist. He is also an immediate replacement for Coburn should that be neccessary, there is no doubt he is better than Coburn offensively and certainly defensivley. Also, I don't see coburn getting a new contract anytime soon. Sustr will clearly be the 7th D man.

I'd like to see:

Hedman - Koekkoek (see what he can do, Dotch waiting for him to mess up)
Stralman - Serg
Girardi - Coburn

Serg is young but has a lot of talent. Hedman came in and played a lot of games his rookie year, learned by playing at the NHL level which I think they should do with Serg but pair him with a seasoned, stay at home type of guy.

6, 7, and 8 are all interchangeable I think with Coburn getting most of the playing time. I think Koekkoek and Dotch are 5/6 D men but you put one with Hedman to help them out. The Bolts recently have taken their time with the young guys so Serg may be out but you moved Drouin for him so lets see what the kid can do.

We all know Cooper like to start 7 dmen in a game with 11 forwards, so I can totally see the Lightning carry 8 dmen on the roster. Maybe they ease in Serg and sit him 1 out of 3 games. I think Koekoek has a hell of a lot more upside than Dotchin. The reason he was sent down last season was so that he could play more minutes. I believe he is still very much a big part of the Lightning's future on the blueline. He's a puck moving defenseman, a must have in today's NHL. I can see him playing with Stralman this season, Girardi with Hedman but Dotchin seeing some time up there with Girardi playing more PK minutes. Insert Serg with Stralman/Girardi and Sustr playing as the 7th. Cooper will have a lot to play with. I dont think Serg should go back to Juniors. He's ready to learn with the big boys and we can shelter him nicely with our depth.

I'd like to see:

Hedman - Koekkoek (see what he can do, Dotch waiting for him to mess up)
Stralman - Serg
Girardi - Coburn

Serg is young but has a lot of talent. Hedman came in and played a lot of games his rookie year, learned by playing at the NHL level which I think they should do with Serg but pair him with a seasoned, stay at home type of guy.

6, 7, and 8 are all interchangeable I think with Coburn getting most of the playing time. I think Koekkoek and Dotch are 5/6 D men but you put one with Hedman to help them out. The Bolts recently have taken their time with the young guys so Serg may be out but you moved Drouin for him so lets see what the kid can do.
- Kucherovski

I like your thinking but both Koekkoek and Hedman are LD... I think they have Koek/Serg with Stralman and Dotchin/Girardi with Hedman... I think by the end of the season, they would go with something like this:

Hedman - Girardi/Dotchin
Stralman - Koekoek
Coburn - Serg/Dotchin/Girardi

Sustr

Koekkoek is the the odd man out in my opinion. He is the only one signed to a bismal 1 year contract, but is a RFA so he is prime trade bait if needed.
Girardi will hellp out immensly in the development of Dotchin, and Sergachev. Girardi likely to start on 2nd line and is a PK specialist. He is also an immediate replacement for Coburn should that be neccessary, there is no doubt he is better than Coburn offensively and certainly defensivley. Also, I don't see coburn getting a new contract anytime soon. Sustr will clearly be the 7th D man.
- alwaysjoeking

I mean... no. Girardi is the worst player in the grouping by a country mile by nearly every objective measure.

Hedman - Dotchin(even though he isn't good Hedman is a god so it doesn't matter)
Sergachev - Stralman
Koekkoek - Coburn
Sustr

Buyout Girardi

Hedman - Dotchin(even though he isn't good Hedman is a god so it doesn't matter)
Sergachev - Stralman
Koekkoek - Coburn
Sustr

Buyout Girardi
- Feds91Stammer

Hedman - Dotchin(even though he isn't good Hedman is a god so it doesn't matter)
Sergachev - Stralman
Koekkoek - Coburn
Sustr

Buyout Girardi
- Feds91Stammer

How about more realistic? Obviously they won't buy out Girardi after they just signed him so he has to fit somewhere.

How about more realistic? Obviously they won't buy out Girardi after they just signed him so he has to fit somewhere.
- Kucherovski

Hedman - Dotchin(even though he isn't good Hedman is a god so it doesn't matter)
Sergachev - Stralman
Koekkoek - Coburn
Sustr

Bury/LTIR Girardi

That better?

Hedman - Dotchin(even though he isn't good Hedman is a god so it doesn't matter)
Sergachev - Stralman
Koekkoek - Coburn
Sustr

Bury/LTIR Girardi

That better?
- Feds91Stammer

No because he doesn't have a long term injury and they just paid him $3m per year so even if your feelings are hurt they will put him in the lineup somewhere.

No because he doesn't have a long term injury and they just paid him $3m per year so even if your feelings are hurt they will put him in the lineup somewhere.
- Kucherovski

LMAO hurt my feelings? Its not my money or my team that is getting (frank)ed by having Girardi on it.

How about more realistic? Obviously they won't buy out Girardi after they just signed him so he has to fit somewhere.
- Kucherovski

There is no such thing when it comes to Girardi. He sucked in a top pairing role with Rags therefor he will suck in whatever role Tampa puts him in. Partner doesn't matter, team doesn't matter, role doesn't matter. He sucked and therefor he will suck.

Honestly I'm so sick of hearing about he sucks I'm trying to stay away from any Lightning blog or twitter account. There's no point arguing or even making a valid point b/c the only thing that matters is Girardi sucked for the Rags.

Hedman/Dotch
Stralman/Coburn
Girardi/KK

Sergachev and Sustr as depth.

KK will get his chance b/c they don't have a choice anymore.

Yes I know Girardi sucks. Don't @ me bro

LMAO hurt my feelings? Its not my money or my team that is getting (frank)ed by having Girardi on it.
- Feds91Stammer

There is no such thing when it comes to Girardi. He sucked in a top pairing role with Rags therefor he will suck in whatever role Tampa puts him in. Partner doesn't matter, team doesn't matter, role doesn't matter. He sucked and therefor he will suck.

Honestly I'm so sick of hearing about he sucks I'm trying to stay away from any Lightning blog or twitter account. There's no point arguing or even making a valid point b/c the only thing that matters is Girardi sucked for the Rags.

Hedman/Dotch
Stralman/Coburn
Girardi/KK

Sergachev and Sustr as depth.

KK will get his chance b/c they don't have a choice anymore.

Yes I know Girardi sucks. Don't @ me bro
- uf1910

While I agree that something like this is likely to happen, the major issue with it is that Girardi will make Koekkoek look horrendous, and that will spell the end of Koekkoek. It won't be Girardi that Cooper sits.

These young guys need to be put in a position to succeed. And anything that involves minutes with Girardi just isn't that. His WOWY numbers speak for themselves. He anchored everyone he played with. I really hope the coaching staff puts Coburn with him, as the development of the young guys is too important.

I highly doubt Yzerman will screw himself out of the 2nd round pick which is conditional on Sergachev playing fewer than 40 games this year.

While I agree that something like this is likely to happen, the major issue with it is that Girardi will make Koekkoek look horrendous, and that will spell the end of Koekkoek. It won't be Girardi that Cooper sits.

These young guys need to be put in a position to succeed. And anything that involves minutes with Girardi just isn't that. His WOWY numbers speak for themselves. He anchored everyone he played with. I really hope the coaching staff puts Coburn with him, as the development of the young guys is too important.
- Michael_Stuart

Best thing for this team imo is they start the season like 2-8 and Cooper gets fired ASAP.

Best thing for this team imo is they start the season like 2-8 and Cooper gets fired ASAP.
- Feds91Stammer

I do tend to think that Cooper has likely lived out his useful life in Tampa - he's now one of the longest tenured coaches in the NHL. But it wasn't him who went out and gave Girardi a contract on July 1, either.

I do tend to think that Cooper has likely lived out his useful life in Tampa - he's now one of the longest tenured coaches in the NHL. But it wasn't him who went out and gave Girardi a contract on July 1, either.
- Michael_Stuart

I've just never been a huge fan of his and the big positive for him is he tends to get credit for the triplets even though they were all good players before they were in the organization.

I've just never been a huge fan of his and the big positive for him is he tends to get credit for the triplets even though they were all good players before they were in the organization.
- Feds91Stammer

Yeah, I mean I've definitely been on the "he's overrated" bandwagon for a while now. I think the talent on the roster masks a lot of his coaching issues.

LMAO hurt my feelings? Its not my money or my team that is getting (frank)ed by having Girardi on it.
- Feds91Stammer

I still can't believe they signed Girardi. I just want Yzerman and Cooper to give the young guys a chance. Let Sergachev and Koekkoek play, cause there's a very high chance that they're already better than Girardi. It just doesn't make sense

While I agree that something like this is likely to happen, the major issue with it is that Girardi will make Koekkoek look horrendous, and that will spell the end of Koekkoek. It won't be Girardi that Cooper sits.

These young guys need to be put in a position to succeed. And anything that involves minutes with Girardi just isn't that. His WOWY numbers speak for themselves. He anchored everyone he played with. I really hope the coaching staff puts Coburn with him, as the development of the young guys is too important.


- Michael Stuart

Take his WOWY and throw it out the window. It's a bad stat to start with. If anyone is going to judge Girardi by analytics, he won't look good. Not why he was brought in. He was brought in to take some of the heavy lifting for the team and to defend. There are a ton of factors that go into shot suppression numbers. Girardi is still a capable defender in how own end and on the PK. That's why he was signed.

Take his WOWY and throw it out the window. It's a bad stat to start with. If anyone is going to judge Girardi by analytics, he won't look good. Not why he was brought in. He was brought in to take some of the heavy lifting for the team and to defend. There are a ton of factors that go into shot suppression numbers. Girardi is still a capable defender in how own end and on the PK. That's why he was signed.
- MJL

LMAO STOP

Take his WOWY and throw it out the window. It's a bad stat to start with. If anyone is going to judge Girardi by analytics, he won't look good. Not why he was brought in. He was brought in to take some of the heavy lifting for the team and to defend. There are a ton of factors that go into shot suppression numbers. Girardi is still a capable defender in how own end and on the PK. That's why he was signed.
- MJL

1. Yzerman specifically said that they used their "own internal analytics" and Girardi fit what they were looking for - their internal analytics on him must be garbage, but nonetheless the team itself was judging Girardi by analytics.

2. Not being able to suppress shots in the defensive zone or generate shots in the offensive zone disqualifies one from being a capable defender. He just doesn't have the speed to keep up anymore.

WOWY can be misused in certain situations, but when the conclusion is exactly the same across the entire range of players he suited up with over a significant sample size, it's more than fine to use.